bonjour les filles

books. always and forever.

2007-06-22T12:58:00.000-08:00

casanova was a librarian (best librarian jokes ever)
my house in umbria
biomimicry
house thinking
theatre of the mind
the no .hole rule
how the mind works
life 101 (mcwilliams)
the object stares back
why people believe weird things
the curse
regulating men.

the list.

2007-06-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

why?
the elephant in the room
the fabulous girl's code red
everyone is not doing it
ladies of the rope
let's meet on platform 8
science of sacrifice
you shall know our velocity
underground cities: the world beneath london and paris (1800-1945)
happily ever after: fairy tales, children and the culture industry
sweets
pandora's hope
the memory artists
the ladies' lending library
social life of trees
the power of gold: the history of an obsession
book of imaginary beings
vampires, burial and death
witchcraft, lycanthropy, drugs and disease
walmart: the high cost of low price
the lucifer principle: a scientific expedition into the forces of history
losing our heads
universities in ruins
no place to learn
renovating the ivory tower
geek chic
why fairy tales stick
race against time
fairy tales and the act of subversion
weird canadian words
storks and bonds
my new york diary (jouet)
when young ladies became girls
mad in america
the yellow wallpaper
law and humanities institute (kornstein)
jeans
off with her head
thicker than water (meyer)
queen of fashion
survival of the prettiest
falling
fashion and fetishism
best practices in poverty reduction
the millionaire next door
pathologies of power
the threat and the glory
i wish i'd made you angry earlier
away from her
you're history
fans
fan cultures
information please
world as laboratory
women's activism and globalization
books fatal to their authors
atonement
knowledge goes pop
overcoming the two cultures
bread not bombs
we did nothing
beauty queen's guide to world peace

it is not humanly possible to finish these lists.

2007-06-03T17:46:00.000-08:00

sign after the x
the life all around me (foster)
the oprah phenomenon
the crossword obsession: the history and lore of the world's most popular pastime
prom nights: youth, school and popular culture
infertility around the globe
warm and snug: the history of the bed
the alchemist
comfort food for breakups
our spoons were from woolsworth
spinster tales and womanly possibilities
hunger: an unnatural history
fits like a rubber dress
true lies: the book of bad advice
cover me
culture of creativity
no time
nonsense novels
panic! markets, crises and crowds in american fiction
the awakening (chopin)
perilous chastity
paradise lost
white wedding
heart of darkness
folly and insanity in renaissance literature
academic keywords: a devil's dictionary for higher education
quotation marks
some girls do
visions of suburbia
the secrets she keeps
bar code
passion for friends
the real world of NGOs
status anxiety
on biocultural diversity (terralingua, partnerships for linguistic and biological diversity, international society of ethnobiology)
why so slow?
shopping around
grassroots warriors
so many books, so little time
managing elites
the psychology of eating
toxic psychiatry
going sane
pain: the science and culture of why we hurt
the new brain sciences
prozac on the couch
history of mental symptoms
brain-wise
neurophilosophy
walking heads
stars don't stand still in the sky
no sweat
understanding pop culture
guns, germs and steel
give us your best and brightest
small is the new big
7 going on 17
timetable of women's history
teenagers in america: myths and realities
freaks, geeks and cool kids
reading between the lines
maps of women's goings and stayings

i like the looks of these books.

2007-05-13T16:51:00.001-08:00

the art of looking sideways
a brief history of misogyny
all dressed in white: the irresistible rise of the american wedding
the brain that changes itself
the real facts of life
days of war, nights of love
the world's most dangerous woman
imagined communities
wild women: crusaders, curmudgeons and completely corsetless ladies in the otherwise virtuous victorian era

more books.

2007-05-04T13:16:00.000-08:00

books i'd like to read. soon.

sideshow USA: freaks and the american cultural imagination
waxworks
inside the mouse: work and play at disney world
the disneyization of society
a little matter of genocide: holocaust and denial in the americas 1492 to the present
the crime of crimes: demonology and politics in france 1560-1620
the bollywood cookbook: the glamorous world of the actors and over 75 of their favorite recipes

plus note to self: remember edmonton symphony orchestra's beatles evening

library fun. part II

2007-04-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

best book title du jour

paprika: a spicy memoir of hungary

books i now want to read

a brief history of infinity
the 101 most influential people who never lived
the recovery of wonder
women in dark age and early medieval europe c. 500-1200
women in late medieval and reformation europe 1200-1550
the cult of efficiency
the cheese monkeys
small apartments

library fun. part I

2007-04-26T16:19:00.000-08:00

now that i work at the lovely rutherford library, i encounter millions of titles of books each day. some of them are funny. some of them are to the point. some of them are rather amusing.

best book title of the day: slave in a box: the strange career of aunt jemima

book i now want to read: inventing the victorians

oooo la la .

2007-02-23T17:57:00.000-08:00

jane.

2007-02-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

i am listening to jefferson starship with my father.
i find this to be excellent.

scraps.

2006-11-20T19:38:00.000-08:00

for the past 2 evenings when i've taken the bus home, someone has left a fruit peel to the right of my seat. strange. friday it was an orange peel. today, a banana. this all has happened at the same seat. coincidence? perhaps.

finely-honed vision skills.

2006-11-08T18:13:00.000-08:00

today whilst proctoring, i observed:

24 people wearing a green shirt or sweater
18 people wearing a toque or hat
5 people wearing horizontally striped shirts
1 person wearing very, very green pants
1 person that looked like one of the twins from good charlotte in 15 years or so

2006-11-02T17:58:00.000-08:00

AIE!!!!

2006-11-02T17:37:00.000-08:00

i just got a pumpkin spice latte from starbucks courtesy my mom. i am so happy.

2006-10-29T19:31:00.000-08:00

what?

2006-09-30T19:49:00.000-08:00

today is my half-birthday.

2006-09-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

now that i am back home. this is what i do instead of studying...

2006-08-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

i am le home!

2006-08-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

ah yes, once again i am using the tender internet courtesy of apple and their macbook. nyc has been treating us well, although no more star sightings. yesterday, cait and i experienced our very first broadway. we saw the much hyped 'spamalot' which is a monty python and the holy grail rip-off. it was hilarious and excellent and full of wonderful puns. while we were in line to purchase our tickets from a legal establishment, we were approached from an elderly gentlemen who offered us tickets to the sold out spamalot. we bought the tickets (although we were very very very worried that they were perhaps fakes) but fortunately everything turned out for the best. to add to our slightly illegal day, yesterday while in china town, we were approached by this guy who asked us if we wanted to see anything fake chanel after which he led us to this shop and the guy had to unlock this drawer with the contraband material inside. very funny. yesterday we also poked around wall street and the new york stock exchange, complete with appearances by the men in the different coloured jackets (i also noted that they were all smoking - likely due to the stress). today we voyaged into queens - very different feel from manhattan. but they had incredible graffiti art. they also had a grocery store where cait and i bought a bag of cookies and ate them while on a bench. fun. tonight we walked around 5th avenue. tomorrow will be quite busy: seeing city hall, walking across the brooklyn bridge, snooping around brooklyn, eating in the posh McDonalds (complete with doormen and grand piano) and seeing the world trade centre site. the television shows and commercials are hilarious here. they appear to want to instill fear in the general american population. today marks the half-way point of our time in nyc. sunday morning, cait and i are planning to attend a church service at a gospel church in harlem - we'll see if this actually happens depending on how safe we feel. i'll be back in good old edmonton in less than a week. cait and i are planning on hosting a picture viewing evening. what fun!!!! talk to you soon! party down. xx nicole

2006-08-16T18:12:00.000-08:00

YES!!!!! i am currently in the big apple, using a free computer at a mega mega huge apple store. thus far i have seen hilary duff, haylie duff and jessica biel. they were all approximately one meter away from me. this city is crazy - so much to do and see - hopefully we'll be able to all pack it in. it's quite overwhelming but i am very much enjoying it. the hotel is fantastic and very clean. the metro system is also quite excellent although it was very confusing to figure out at first. new yorkers, contrary to what i have heard, have been ultra helpful and friendly. they also don't seem to care what other people think of them. it's hilarious. i went to this free concert at another apple store and saw and then met pete yorn. i have seen the UN, was around times square tonight, museum of modern art, walked around SOHO and central park, walked through trump towers (ugly decor), went through the Toys R Us store that has a ferris wheel and went through the guggenheim museum. we're planning on hitting a broadway sometime soon - likely spamalot (a monty python broadway about the holy grail). should be very excellent. anyways, i should probably jad as i'm not sure when they will kick me off this computer. hope all is well. i'm hope next thursday. salut!!!

2006-08-11T06:15:00.000-08:00

i have now completed all my exams and papers and everything for l´école de francais. and i`m getting mega pumped for NYC but at the same time, it`s weird leaving montreal and saying adieu to people that i`ve been living with everyday. picking up from where i left last time i wrote, tamtams were a fantastic experience. after that i rushed home and left to watch the national ballet perform in a park. by national i mean quebec. i have found that people from quebec refer to things in their country as national. they also call their premier premier ministre, or prime minister. strange. anyways, after the ballet we went to this poutine store where they had over 20 varieties of poutine. it was scrumptious. monday was school and then our class headed to `jardin nelson´ for a farewell dinner. i had this delicious veggie pizza and then for dessert i had this cheesecake crepe. amazing. then i walked around old montreal. in the evening i relaxed, watch some good old oprah and dr. phil and then i made this amazing dinner: rice, sliced avacado and sliced tomatoes, lemond juice, cilantro and cottage cheese. amazing! wonderful! delish! the rest of the night was spent on msn, talking on skype and watching the rest of high fidelity. tuesday morning i accidentally erased my pictures from my camera by reformatting which i did not realize erased pictures. i was sad but fortunately i had just switched my card on sunday so i only lost pictures from sunday on, but still. it was mega frustrating. after school i went to the jardin botanique and insectarium and saw lots of flowers and plants and green. in the evening i went to see bon cop, bad cop - this quebec movie that is crazy popular here. it was entertaining but cheesy in a way that only canadian movies can be. wednesday i worked on my oral final (that was on thursday) and in the evening we went to andrea and stef`s uncle`s loft for crepes. i stayed up late that night finishing my oral presentation. thursday was oral presentation and then andrea`s uncle drove us to st. sauver - a ski town just 1 hour outside of montreal. it was very quaint with lots of neat shops. for dinner i had kir, french onion soup and an espresso and our waiter was philippe: the gael garcia look-alike. party! anyways, that brings us to today, friday. i just had my final exam and i`m going to head back to the residences to pack for a bit. i`m off to NYC very early on sunday morning. hopefully the border won`t be too crazy. 2 weeks until i`m home! salut!!

2006-08-08T08:14:00.000-08:00

hello friends. this morning was quite the disaster because i magically managed to erase some of my pictures. it was very sad. anyways, starting off from last wednesday: after school andrea and stefanie`s uncle took us all to this neat fruit market called the `jean-talon market´ where i bought some cilantro, an avacado, tomatoes and broccoli and apples (granny-smith style). then he took us around all these really really fancy houses on top of the mount-royal hill. we went for zataars for dinner (these delicious lebanese wraps with pickled radish and mint inside). after that we went to the contemporary art museum as it was free entrance that evening. they had this neat exhibit on music videos where they showed a multitude of music videos from the past couple of decades. very fun. and then they also had an exhibit by brian jungen who made native american masks out of nike shoes as well as massive whale skeletons out of lawn chairs. it was really neat and exceedingly creative. thursday was my little bro`s birthday - he is now 11. that day i went back to the fine arts museum to look around, bought my bus ticket for NYC ( i leave this sunday very very early) and watched some oprah and dr. phil while eating a microwave pasta dinner (this time with added cilantro and peppers). in the evening we went to oratoire st. joseph - this massive and beautiful church on top of the hill. and you have to climb a million stairs to reach it. the stairs were divided in three - the middle was reserved for those that wanted to climb up the steps on their knees - praying/thinking as they went. that evening homework and studying was the order of business. friday was my sister`s last day in her program in riviere du loup so she called to say hello and farewell. after school i went to this indian buffet near our campus. it was amazing: butter chicken, samosa, lentils, rice, delicious sauces and mango pudding. i ate so so so much that i didn´t eat for the rest of the day. but it was totally worth it. that night we had our farewell evening. there were some musical numbers, some skits and most people (minus me due to stuffage of le food) ate corn on the cob. that evening we watched high fidelity and i went to bed early because we had to meet quite early for quebec city the next morning. quebec city was amazing. we arrived in a city just across the water way so we took this sweet ferry across and then explored the city. chateau frontenac was everything i could have dreamed for... and more. while we were there it was `fete de la nouvelle-france´ so there were parades and people dressed in period costumes. all very amusing. we ate crepes for dinner. i really wish we could have stayed there longer but it was a really neat city and i will definitely have to head back someday in the future. sunday we went to andrea and stef`s uncle`s hotel for breakfast. it was amazing. yogourt! juice! croissants! smoked salmon and dill omelette! and then i went shopping to this neat store where i purchased some nifty post-it notes as well as these alphabet dividers for music collections. very neat. that afternoon i went to the tamtams for a tiny bit. the tamtams involve a huge mega group of people (anyone can come and join) that bring their own instruments (bongo drums, triangles, saxophones etc) and then play them for several hours every sunday. there`s one guy that whistles and then sets the beat for the song and then everyone joins in, improvising and dancing. tres, tres cool. oh - i gotta jad. i`m off to the botanical gardens. party out. xx nicole

2006-07-31T04:42:00.000-08:00

hello friends! today i poured milk over my oatmeal only to discover that my not-yet-expired milk had actually expired. yuck. it´s somewhat strange that this is the last day of july and that tomorrow will be august and that that means that school is starting very soon. starting from where i left off last time, the vetiver concert was awesome and fabulous and extremely fun. and i bought a nifty bag and the concert hall that it was in was air conditioned. thursday i had my presentation on cloning and it went very very well. the rest of the day was spent working on a newspaper project with a gal from saskatoon named erin. i took a break and watched 'l'auberge espagnole' with audrey tatou. it was a fantastic movie and i would highly recommend it. friday after class i went shopping to h&m and village des valeurs (value village) with some friends. later on in the day, i got to visit with jennyrae and aaron (friends from church) as they stopped in montreal for a few days before heading over to jamaica for three years. it was very excellent to see them. after that visit, i went for greek food with a gal from sherwood park named suzanne. the food was excellent and inexpensive. i tried moussaka. saturday i got up early to meet for the trip to ottawa. it was a 2 and a half hour drive. i think i slept most of the way. i also tried to read harry potter en francais but it´s not as enjoying as it is en anglais. we toured the parliament inside and out. the library was my favourite, favourite part. after that we went to the national gallery of canada. i was expecting to be bored, but fortunately it was an excedingly excellent art gallery. and they had many paintings by alfred pellan. i very, very much enjoy his work. then we voyaged back to montreal. i was planning to do something that evening but i was tuckered out so i watched day after tomorrow with stefanie. sunday morning i called home, watched crash for the first time. i very much enjoyed the movie. that early afternoon we went for lebanese food - the best wraps i have ever tasted in my life. and then we went to this event called piknicelectronik. it`s a huge huge mega large dance party that happens every sunday during the summer in this park on an island right next to montreal. it was so so so so much fun and the dancing was great and the music was highly enjoyable and everyone was having a good time. it was grand. that evening i met with my group for our group presentation monday afternoon. i went to bed slightly early. it was lovely. monday i had school in the morning and afternoon. our group presentation was awesome and excellent. after school i watched a bit of oprah. bill gates is on this mission to save the american schools. then we went to go eat at a greek restaurant but for some reason this restaurant closed at 7pm. strange. so we ate at mcdonalds instead. the cheese burgers were delicious. i also ordered poutine because it´s likely one of few times that i will be able to order poutine at mcdonalds. then we went to go see C.R.A.Z.Y. in a huge park. but a few minutes before the movie began it began to pour. crazy. immense flooding and rain. so we were soaked and so we left. and we were wet and my food was soggy. then we came home and did laundry until 12.30 in the morning! hip hip. tuesday we had school and then we went for food at the place that we had tried to go to the day before (arahova). i had a chicken gyro. it was delicious and they made their own tzatziki sauce. it was filled with garlic goodness. then our intention was to go to a maze/labyrinth game in a warehouse. but when we got there it was more expensive than anticipated and it looked like it was a place better suited for an 8 year-old. thus we left and went walking around old montreal. but then the temperature was 47 degrees with humidity. and we were slowly dying. thus we got a iced coffee and went to andrea´s uncle´s hotel where there was intense AC = redemption! then because it was still so so so sickly/grossly hot, we went to the `underground city´ which is this huge network of tunnels and passageways underneath the downtown area of montreal. so we shopped and explored. then we came home. and there was a huge storm. lots and lots of lightning. and wind. and rain. but it was entertaining. and we had a good view from our 19th floor common room. today is wednesday. it´s lunch break right now. oh man. big news. lately i´ve become a huge sudoku fanatic. but the ones that i have tried have always been too tricky. and so today. i completed my very first sudoku grid. hip hip!!! i think tonight after school i´m going grocery shopping because all i have in my fridge is cheese. and after i will hopefully check out the contemporary art museum. we are wolves are here on sunday and i hope to see them. hope all is well in edmonton. salut!!

2006-07-26T06:30:00.000-08:00

hello friends! today is the half-way mark of the montreal program although i still have a month minus 2 days until i arrive back in fair edmonton-ville. things are going quite well here and there`s definitely quite a bit to do in this city. the weather has fortunately been much cooler and there`s been lots of sweet thunderstorms in the evenings. time has been passing by much quicker and it`s strange to think that i will be home somewhat soon. what have i been up to lately, you ask? well, starting from last monday the 17th, the metric concert was cancelled due to some `scheduling error´ so in the evening i watched this movie in the residence called `les aimants´ which was quite a lovely movie about magnets and being in love (which are the two meanings of the word `aimant´). on tuesday after school, we went to the montreal biodome and the stade olympique. it was quite nifty and we went up this semi-elevator and saw a 360 view of montreal. the biodome was neat. i think i liked the penguins the best. that evening, we went to a movie - `la secret de ma mère´ which was quite funny but strange at the same time. later on that night in our residence, we watched capote on stephanie´s laptop and ate cookie dough. yum. delicious. wednesday was school and then in the evening i went to the montreal symphony orchestra in the notre-dame church where celine dion got married. it was beautiful inside. not too much happened on thursday - a lot of homework and studying and also met andrea`s uncle for dinner at this neat irish pub where i had the most delicious hamburger. eating in dorms definitely makes you appreciative of warm, non-microwave cooked meals. i`ve been eating so so much hummus, yogourt, pita bread and granny smith apples. there`s this brand of yogourt here called `liberté´ and it`s the most delicious yogourt i`ve ever tasted - especially their mocha flavoured yogourt. anyways, on friday after school i went to LaRonde - an amusement park that`s part of the six flags family. it was so so so much fun. they had crazy roller coasters: some where you stand up the whole time and others where you`re suspended from the top and a really really megatron huge wooden roller coaster. there were also a lot of other rides, one of which involved being spun around and upside down, rotating both clockwise and counter clockwise. that one was quite intense. after coming back from LaRonde, i bought harry potter, book 4 in french. it`s kinda weird because some names are a bit different, for example, hogwarts is called poudlard but some names remain in english, for exmaple little hangleton. strange. very strange. saturday some of the people in the program headed out to oka beach, which is an hour away from montreal. despite the fact that it was quite cloudy and rained for an hour, it was still quite fun to sit, read, play cards and hang out. after coming back to the dorms, we finished capote. i was extremely extremely impressed with philip seymour hoffman`s performance even though i`m not quite sure i totally enjoyed the movie. it was a bit of a downer. after the movie, we headed out to andrea`s uncle`s apartment. her uncle is a part owner of a hotel in old montreal and lives in a loft right next to the hotel. his loft was amazing - just like a neat loft you would see in the movies. anyways, the purpose of our visit to his place was to watch fireworks from his roof. during the month of july there are firewords every wednesday and saturday; a different country from around the world produces the fireworks for each wednesday and saturday. i believe france was the country that presented the fireworks on saturday. the view from her uncle`s roof was amazing and it was neat to look out around montreal. when we got back to our dorms that night, there was a party going down on our floor as it was someone`s birthday. we joined in and had cake and i also tried sangria for the first time. it`s actually quite delicious though somewhat potent. we went to sleep quite late so sleeping in was the order of business for sunday morning. the rest of the day i just hung around, went grocery shopping, went to the bank and did laundry. what fun! monday after school we ate an early supper while watching oprah and dr. phil. and then we had a arts and crafts evening. i made a layered candle. it was extremely amusing. the rest of the evening was spent talking and doing homework. yesterday (tuesday) after school, andrea and stefanie´s mom arrived for a few days. for supper we went to schwartz - a famous smoked meat shop. i had the BEST sandwhich that i have ever had in my life there. it was like 5 layers of smoked, seasoned meat on rye bread witha bit of mustard. delicious and amazing. after that we went walking around this street called rue st. laurent. after that we went to orange julep - apparently the original orange julius. it tasted very much like an orange julius only more pulp. but the building is a huge orange. and that was funny and exciting. after that we got more groceries (more mocha yogourt for me). for some reason everytime that i buy the mocha yogourt i sing songs by moka only. strange. andrea and stef`s mom bought us this weird pop called pinebeer. it`s like 7up but it tastes like a pine tree would smell. it was...an experience. tonight i`m off to the vetiver concert. i am very very very excited to see devendra banhart. hopefully this concert is not cancelled. it`s only 12 dollars too. hip hip!! i have my mega presentation tomorrow morning and then i have a test and a mega project due friday. i`m somewhat nervous. saturday i`m going to ottawa and the next saturday i`ll hopefully be going to quebec city. this has been a mega update. i hope everyone is doing well. i heard that it was mega hot in edmonton and that gas prices have gone way up. monday should be quite the day. in the evening, i´m going to see the movie C.R.A.Z.Y. in a huge park. that movie is very very popular here. and in the afternoon i get the next 300 dollars! yes!! no more microwave dinners or oatmeal for supper!! alrighty, i´m off to practice my speech. hope everything is going excellently at home. salut, nicole

2006-07-23T14:52:00.000-08:00

i am still in montreal. the weather has cooled down. i am speaking lots of french. i will write more later.
love, nicole

2006-07-16T15:34:00.000-08:00

one week in montreal. it seems like muchos longer, which is kinda crazy. what have i been up to thus far?? last sunday i arrived around 7 at night and then fortunately i met up with a gal i knew from high school (stephanie harries) and her friend's uncle was picking them up from the airport so i got a ride to the residences which was ultra sweet because i had no clue where i was going. our school is on a bit of a mountain. i'm on the 19th floor of the residence which is a bit weird because the rooms start at floor 7. anyways, after i arrived and unpacked a bit, i explored the university area with steph, andrea (her friend - also from scona), stef (andrea's sister) and matt (a guy on our floor from drayton valley). monday morning we had our french placement test in this mega huge auditorium (even bigger than the huge tory room at the u of a). that afternoon we tried to find a walmart to buy fans and real pillows. we couldn't find the walmart. then it started to pour and we went for the greatest thai food i have ever tasted. that day we also got some of our food allowance. we get 600 dollars in total, 300 dollars now until july 31 and then 300 dollars from july 31 until august 13. it sounds like a lot of money. but eating out and buying groceries sure adds up mega fast. tuesday evening we had a huge group activity called `les pizza olympiques´ which is where we had all these silly stations to go to and then we ate lots of pizza. maybe too much pizza. at one of the stations, i had to stick my head in this huge bucket of flour and find an olive using only my face. and another station we had to pass an onion ring down the line using only a toothpick in our mouths. it was actually quite fun. wednesday i switched classes from the highest level of french to one down. i think i probably could have toughed it out in the ultra french class but the teacher wasn't very nice and it seemed like a ton of work. my new class is excellent and the teacher (joseph) is rad and we're watching amelie. thursday i went to one of the art museums here. it was quite lovely and i think i have discovered an artist that i love. of course i can't quite remember his name. anyways thursday night we had pizza for supper and an iced chai from second cup (so so delicious). then i studied and did homework as we had a test on friday morning. friday afternoon i met up with katie and danno who have been traveling throughout eastern canada. it was so so nice to see them and just walk around with them. that evening myself and all the people from my floor and katie and danno went out for thai dinner. mme harries (my french teacher from high school) arrived in montreal that night (as it's steph's birthday today) and joined us for dinner. it was lovely. saturday mme harries took us around montreal as she lived here for three years. it was excellent and we saw tons of montreal. it's really quite a diverse city. and it seems large people-number wise but it seems kinda small land-area wise. anyways, that bring us to today. i slept in and we walked around this neighbourhood called outremont which is kinda the rich, french area with ultra nice houses. and then we went around to st.viateur's bagels. this is supposedly a famous jewish bagel place where they boil the bagels. so delicious. so fresh. and so tender. i'm now going to watch a movie and do some research for an oral presentation that i am doing on cloning. tomorrow (monday) i'm going to a concert in the park with metric, electric six, fiery furnances and secret machines. should be quite nice. i hope everyone is doing very excellent in edmonton. i kinda miss home. salut!

2006-07-11T10:59:00.000-08:00

i am now in montreal!
the weather here is crazy hot and my hair is completely frizzled. there´s over 400 kids here so the program is really crazy and it kinda seems disorganized but hopefully things will pick up. my teacher is pretty nice but we have a ton of work to do. i`ll write more later!!

2006-07-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

i am now back in canada. hip hip!!!
this is one of my most favorite pictures of my adventures in france.

2006-06-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

i don't have my little book where i write what i did so i can't quite remember everything that i've been up to. tomorrow we're off to brussels for the day. i can't quite believe that it's almost time to go home. i think i should be arriving july first in edmonton around 10.47 in the evening. i'll update more later with actual things that i have done. i did go for hot chocolate on sunday at this famous chocolate store from the 1800s that tasted like melted chocolate. so delicious. tomorrow the huge mega sales (les soldes) start in france. everything, everywhere is on sale. it should be quite crazy. today we had our french final. it was slightly tricky but seeing as we either get pass or fail, i'm pretty sure i should be alright. and today i bought my very first french CD by this guy named raphael. it was a memorable and wonderful experience and i saw a bunch of music by canadian bands and it made me think of home. i managed to get some very strange bug bites on my face. very attractive. tonight we sat in one of the dorm rooms and drank wine and ate chocolate. i love france. the end.

2006-06-22T04:10:00.000-08:00

updates below!! what fun!!

2006-06-19T03:13:00.000-08:00

for those of you who are interested, i'll bring you up to speed on what i've been up to lately. i haven't been keeping a journal (i probably should be) so this is a good way for me to record everything that has been happening. but alas, someone is waiting to use this computer (there's only one computer for the entire residence) so i will have to continue this later. ooooo suspense!! i think a bunch of us from edmonton will be staying up really late tonight to watch the game. it's kinda of funny because there's a big group of people from edmonton here and then there's a big group of people from north carolina here and those are the two cities going head-to-head in the game tonight. oh. what a small world. anyways, i'll definitely try and update tomorrow. salut!!
***new material***
it's currently 3.57 in the morning and i'm with a bunch of gals from edmonton and we have the hockey game on a laptop and we're cheering the team on but it doesn't sound like they're doing so well. anyways, starting from last tuesday... after school we went out for dinner with our tutor group to and it was incredibly delicious and wonderful and we spoke french the entire time!! and we tried this beverage called kir which is black currant liqueur and then white wine... it's incredibly delicious. then it started to rain and i walked home in the rain which made me so giddy for some reason because i realized i wouldn't want to be walking home in the rain anywhere other than in france. wednesday we traveled into belgium to visit the city of bruges. it poured the whole day which kind of womped because i discovered that my jacket wasn't waterproof but the city was quite beautiful and it reminded me of amsterdam due to its canals and bridges. and they had a tintin store where i went a bit crazy with things to buy. thursday during the day i finally finished reading da vinci code so that evening i went to see the movie en français. it was quite good but i think i prefer the book version. friday i got ready to depart for luxembourg!! a group of 5 people (3 from north carolina, one from pennsylvania and myself) left around 5 in the evening and transferred in brussels. in brussels we couldn't find our train listed on the main board so we were confused but couldn't find anyone to ask so we just found the platform that we thought was right... which fortunately ended up being the right one. however, near the end of our train ride (which was full of clever card games) we discovered that our part of the train wasn't going to luxembourg so we had to change train cars. it was all very interesting. we finally arrived in the city of luxembourg in the country of luxembourg around 9 in the evening after which we checked into our hotel. now, we got a steal of a deal for our hotel. we each had to only pay 40 euros for 2 nights in this incredibly huge hotel room and amazing breakfast. i am tired and this hockey game is too intense. i will finish later. salut!!
***new material***
well the oilers game was quite a letdown but we stayed up until just after 5 in the morning, eating microwave popcorn listening to the radio via the internet. anyways, continuing on from luxembourg...we arrived friday night to the greatest hotel ever called le chatelet. to get to our room we had to first climb 2 normal spiral staircases and then a tiny tiny tiny spiral staircase in which you had to use your hands to climb up. it was a very interesting procedure but we had the whole top floor to ourselves and it was quite lovely. the first night (friday) we walked around the city of luxembourg and saw a ton of old buildings and beautiful bridges and many, many new cars. after a good night's sleep, we woke up and ate the greatest breakfast ever. considering that in france everyday we get bread with jam and pseudo-nutella, having fresh meat and orange juice and cherry tomatoes and cheese and crepes was a real treat. we then walked to the tourist office and figured out where we could go and how to get there. we also purchased this luxembourgcard that only cost us 6.40 euros each and gave us free entrance to all the musems and all the transportation (train and bus) throughout the entire country. what a steal!!! we first traveled by bus to village of echternach and saw a really lovely church and went around the main square. then to get to another village (vianden) we had to transfer to another village called ettelbruck. in this village we walked across a bridge into germany for about 15 minutes. what a thrill!! then we finally got to go to vianden. this village was awesome. we hiked around and finally made it up to this huge castle on a hill and we toured inside and it was amawing. and then we hiked back down to the village and took a chairlift over the river and up a huge hill. there were certain moments where i was scared for my life but we made it and got some amazing views of the area. we then took the bus back from vianden to luxembourg with a bunch of tweens and it was very interesting to see them interacting. oh tweens. that evening we went out to an italian pizzeria for dinner. i had the biggest pizza on the face of this planet and it had tuna and onions and cheese and tomatoes. so delicious. while we we're there, the italy vs. usa world cup football game was on. and seeing as i was with a group of americans and as there were many italians in the restaurant it made for quite a funny time. after dinner we walked around the city again and everywhere you went there was some sort of television being displayed and people congregating around it to watch a football game. it felt very community-like. we woke up a bit later on sunday, had the glorious breakfast again and then just walked around the city of luxembourg. we went the casemates which are these kinda cave-like tunnels that used to be a really old fortress. it was nice and cool, temperature wise and it was also quite nifty. it felt...historic. we then went to luxembourg's philharmonic concert hall. the design of the building was incredibly nifty. for the rest of the day we just walked around and took it easy. we caught the train back to brussels around 4 and then made it back to lille at around 9. i would highly recommend visiting luxembourg. there's definitely a lot that we didn't get the chance to see so i will be going back sometime in the future. monday was classes per usual. in the evening i made a spontaneous decision to go see marie antoinette because it is french related and it seemed proper to see it while in france. although i am neither a kirsten dunst nor a sophia coppola fan (although i do enjoy her movies) it was an interesting movie with amazing costumes and food arrangements. the music was also quite excellent. after getting home we got the laptop set up and listened to the game. sadly we did not win and those from north carolina reminded us of this fact the next day. tuesday we slept in as french class was in the evening. after french class i went shoe shopping but i could not find any shoes in my size. it was somewhat frustrating. tuesday night we went to pirates of the caribbean bar and had the most fun ever. i shared a fishbowl with 3 other people. the fishbowl is a drink with a fruity taste with gummies inside and the drink is in an actual fishbowl. and i also tried a peach kir. also very yummy. it was really fun and then everyone on the french program was in this room in the back and we were all dancing. party time. wednesday (yesterday) was another fieldtrip day. in the morning we voyaged into belgium to ypres and we visited the flanders field museum. it was quite moving and very intense. we then went back into france to dunkerque where we first went to a suburb of dunkerque called saint-malo where we went to the beach and put our feet into the sea. we then went into the actual city of dunkerque and did some browsing around. yesterday was la fete de la musique throughout france. this is a festival/party where everyone who wants to play music comes out in the evening and plays their chosen instruments on the streets and in the square throughout the city in several cities throughout france. there were so so so many people out all over lille and everyone was having a great time, listening to different genres of music and dancing along. everything is going quite well here. french courses are getting a little intense and our final is this upcoming tuesday. this weekend i'm off to a small town called le touquet situated on the english channel and i plan to do some hardcore studying there. hope all is well!! salut!!

2006-06-13T03:21:00.000-08:00

bonjour!! plans have changed for this weekend as i am now planning to travel to luxembourg!! party time!!!

2006-06-12T04:01:00.000-08:00

i finally updated the entry below to include a more comprehensive overview of what i have been up to. enjoy!!

2006-06-07T03:35:00.000-08:00

well hello hello. it's been quite some time since i last wrote. i apologize in advance if there are weird typings in this text as the computers on campus have the letters rearranged so it makes things interesting and definitely slows down my typing speed. much has happened since i last wrote so i'll start off from where i last left off. the night that i left england, we all went to pizzamania - all you can eat pizza and pasta and salad and pop for 5 pounds - it was delicious and exciting and we also went to drydock - the bar in a boat. it was highly amusing. i left leeds around 12.30 am and made it to london around 6.30 am on sunday morning. kate and the rest of the flatmates walked me over and waved as i pulled out - it was awesome. when i got to london i had nooooo idea where i was going but i thought i would be fine because i would just ask people. but i had forgotten to take into account that it was very early on a weekend. so nobody was around and i was lost so i just started walking around trying to find the right bus stop and after an hour or so i found the right one and lugged my suitcase onto the city bus - which was a double decker!!! and made my way to the waterloo station - and i kept singing that really great ABBA song while i was there. i got to the waterloo eurostar station too early so i had to wait outside for a few hours so i sat on my suitcase and read da vinci code which i cant seem to put down. then i boarded the eurostar but i don't remember much because i think i slept the whole time but i was sitting right next to a bunch of australian backpackers. it took less than 2 hours to get to lille and when i arrived i was met by one of the international centre interns and she drove me to the dorms. i live in the st. michel dorm and i'm on the third floor but that really means the fourth floor and thus i've become a queen of stairs here because they do not have any elevators or escalators anywhere. the stairs to the third floor of cameron will be much easier next year i suspect. the residence is really really old and kinda cool but also kinda creepy as the lights are on timers so they turn off all the time. we also only have one toilet that works on our whole floor but for some reason that hasn't been an issue yet. there is one other toilet but the toilet touches the door when it's closed so there's no room for you to sit. strange. we have a big garden/backyard and we have one computer for the whole dorm which is in the basement which seriously looks like a dungeon. *** new material*** well it's monday afternoon here and we have a break for a couple of hours before we go to the musee des beaux-arts which is apparently the second largest art museum in france after the louvre. last week was pretty fun but i'm still having small bouts of home sickness but they usually only last a couple of hours. last week went by pretty fast. every morning we have breakfast in the dorm which consists of toast, jam or nutella and then a hot drink. then french classes go from 9 until noon after which we head to the cafeteria for lunch. there are a few cafterias to choose from in close proximity but i have found that i like the salad bar (called freshup) and the sandwhicherie. after lunch we often have free time where i'll either go to the computer lab, tidy up, read, walk around or go grocery shopping. then we often have some sort of activity and then it's dinner at the cafeteria again and then we usually hang out or go out during the evening. i think i'm being too detailed so sorry if this is somewhat boring. so last week was pretty much just settling in and then twice we went to the pirates of the carribean bar. it's quite fun and has a student-life kind of atmosphere and i've been able to meet some interesting folk while there including some guys from spain on the first night and some guys from lille on the second night. i have come to realize that guys are much more likely to approach you here than compared to edmonton. it's funny. on saturday i went to disneyland near paris. it was quite a bundle of fun although it remains to be megamega hot (probably mid 30s) and there were tons of people. but it was a blast and the rides were very similar to those in disneyland and disneyworld except the space mountain was revamped and the indiana jones ride was a roller coaster and was excellent!!! sunday morning we went to the market d'oizemes and i bought my food for the day and in the afternoon we went to this huge park and sat and read and did homework. it was incredibly lovely. and lille has a free zoo nearby that i'll be sure to visit later. for each of the remaining wednesdays we are heading off to different places in belgium. this wednesday we're going to bruges, the next wednesday we're off to flanders and the last wednesday will be spent in bruxelles. i'm just about to finish the da vinci code so i think that sometime this week i'll head over with some fellow class mates to see the movie en français. oooo la la!! as well, lille has the largest book store in western europe (i think it has 5 levels) so i think i'll i shall be exploring that quite often. this upcoming weekend some people are thinking of going to amsterdam and some are thinking of going to nice. i haven't really made up my mind. but the weekend after that (my last full weekend here) i'll be going to a small-ish city (le touquet) on the english channel. but nothing is really set in stone - everyone is always changing their minds about what to do so i sometimes get a bit frazzled. anyways, my mom should be calling soon so i should run to the building where she can call. i hope everyone is doing extremely well and i shall talk to you later - salut!!

2006-06-03T11:58:00.000-08:00

hip hip hello! it's been quite some time since i last wrote. since the last time, i went on 'the otley run', a huge mega pseudo pub crawl that lasted from 3pm until 2am. it was wild and everyone had wigs, capes, flags, soccer jerseys and face paints for their favorite world cup team. we went to over 15 different pubs/clubs and it ended at halo - this dance club in a really really old church. it was quite lovely. yesterday i slept in and then just hung around the apartment, and then did some errands around town. then kate went out for a year-end ball and i stayed home, watched a movie and went to bed early. today kate and i went exploring to headingley - a neighborhood of leeds. it had a lots of nifty stores and a lot of neat looking buildings. then we met everyone and went for pizza at pizzamania where you eat as much pizza and pasta as you want. delicious! i leave tonight at 12.30am on a bus and i'll arrive in london at 6.30am. i have to them somehow make it around to the eurostar station and should be in at lille in france around 1.30pm their time. i won't have as much access to a computer but i'll still try and update often. happy late birthday to fiona and happy early birthday to kristalee! anything new happening at home? anything big on the news?
adios. xx nicole

2006-05-31T11:56:00.000-08:00

huzzah!!!! the jet lag has left and now i'm starting to feel much much better. today we slept in and then went shopping! they have all sorts of stores here and everything is brick and the roads are cobblestone and i took a picture of what kate calls 'the ugliest building in existence'. i would probably have to agree. it's a very tall rectangular building with huge blocks of grey and white squares in a checkered pattern. yuck. i also saw a store called 'pleasure time'. ha ha. anyways, after shopping we made dinner and watched centre stage. tomorrow there's some huge mega pub crawl kinda deal that starts at 3pm. the theme is 'the world cup'. oi. i have never been to anything quite like this before so it should be interesting!!! tomorrow morning i'll be going with kate and her flatmates to leeds university as they have an exam in the morning. i'm trying to think if anything else exciting has happened. i took a bunch of pictures today and i'll try to insert them later. i think i'm gonna watch a movie and then hit the sack as tomorrow i think will be much dancing and partying. hip hip!!
ps. what is the state of the playoffs?

2006-05-30T11:36:00.000-08:00

jet lag is the pits. i'm at kate's now and fortunately i made it here safely and all my luggage arrived. matchpoint was the movie from edmonton to toronto and then from toronto to london, tristan and isolde was the movie de choix. when i got to heathrow i made it to the bus station to catch a bus to central london and then i had to transfer to another bus to get to leeds. while at this central bus station, i saw the grossest thing ever: a pigeon with a stump for a leg. no claws or anything. just a stump. and it hobbled. aie. anyways, and then i really needed to use the washroom but no one provided any change for the money that i had so i had to run across streets to find a store that would change my money and then run back to use the loo. oi. anyways, i haven't slept in a very very very long time and i have that weird sort of delusional state where i feel kinda majorly out of it and kinda majorly sick. hopefully this will pass. i had to skip out on the activities of this evening which kinda sucked because kate and her flat mates are all going to a bar in a boat. anyways, i'm going back to bed. adios.

2006-05-28T21:54:00.000-08:00

yes. you've come to the right place.
tomorrow i leave and i arrive in london the next day.
hopefully there will be something exciting or strange to write about from kate's place.
hip hip!