Belle Catastrophe

This Blog has moved!

Hey all! It’s been a great adventure BelleCatastrophe. But recently I’ve felt a little out of sorts with wordpress.  Also I got a free TypePad account :)

From now on I will be blogging from  www.mahface.com.

I’m really excited about this new blogging adventure as it is a joint project between my youngest sister, Chelsey  and I.

So happy reading and see you over at MahFace :)

Bikes in Reims

We really want to get bikes for next.  As three of us are toying with the idea to spend our second year in Reims, France the idea of settling down and in seems to be going around in all our heads.

When we came last semester we came with an air of uncertainty, the knowledge that we would be splitting our time between Reims and Paris; thus moving 6 months through.  There was also the uncertainty of staying for the second year: we asked ourselves, “would we stay?, would we pass?, would we want to?”. As exam results came in last week we  answered “would we pass?” and now are faced with the remaining two questions.

I want a bike, so does that indirectly mean I want to stay?  I like the idea of biking around Reims, just small enough to not be killed by traffic, and just small enough to not be a taxing endeavor .  Staying for the second year means things are going to heat up scholastically.  We will have a 80-100 page thesis due, a 20 page report on our internship, and a new battery of seemingly impossible exams.  But I also have our student council group to look forward to, the optimization of French skills, and also a chance to avoid a December graduation.

All in all it also comes back to: “Do I want to go back to Boston?”

Visitors

I love when people visit. It really makes me happy that people have come to see me this year.  My first visitor was my friend Laura who I met up with when I went to Lyon.  She is a school friend/old roommate/adored individual.  Followed closely by little Chelsey, who adventured around Paris and Barcelona with me with a great amount of flair and fun on bikes and on public transport.  Then Lana came who brought bagels and happiness and very importantly scrabble!  On her heels were Krista and then Vincent - two friends from my year in Lyon.

It’s nuts how many people you connect with in the various adventures in life.  When I was little my mom used to always get mad at me because I would have new “best friends” every other week. I was known for bringing a friend home a bunch of times and then finding someone else and doing the exact same thing.  But one thing is for sure, no matter where I have been I always have my close friend - my friend I can count on, can make any joke too and also have a good time with whatever the circumstances.  Luckily even though I’ve gone to a few different schools in my life and met a lot of new people I still keep in contact with my favorite people from each step of my life.

Because I believe you should hold onto the good things. I believe that you should keep in contact religiously with the people who matter most and who also have a good sense of humor and witty social commentary.  Whether it be dropping in a christmas card or shooting over an email nothing feels better than knowing that you are connected with a group of amazing people who like literary terms as much as you do.

I was video chatting with Lana tonight and I realized that I hadn’t uploaded our photos from her visit.  I was so glad to see her and it was a really awesome visit :).  Her photos made me think of how great my friends are.

The best hour I ever lost

Since Sunday  I feel like I have been living. Since Sunday I haven’t stopped smiling. Since Sunday there has been sunlight.  I got out of work today and there was still sunlight at 7 pm just till about 830 - there was wonderful light streaming through the windows.

I feel like things are so wonderful; that nothing can go wrong. It gives me perspective, hope and makes me feel glorious all at the same time.

I never realized that I was feeling down until I started feeling this good.

A way to spend a glamorous saturday night in Paris

CChip Zuc Bread:

Makes 2 loaves

You’ll need:

• 3 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• a treat wouldn’t be a treat without chocolat

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, shift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar together.

In a separate bowl whip eggs until foamy, add in oil and follow with zucchini and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry until well combined. Fold in cchips.

Divide batter equally in 2 standard greased loaf pans. Bake for 45 min - 1 hour or until a tester comes out clean. Alternatively, bake in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes or 24 muffin tins for 20-25 minutes.

http://hookedinamsterdam.wordpress.com/2008/03/10/great-aunt-fridas-zucchini-bread/

Running

My roommate and I have started running. It all started with a dreary Saturday morning in Paris and ended with a 35 minute run on the banks of the Seine. Not bad for scenery, right? I felt marvelous as my legs kicked into stride, and even though it was a slow jog it made me feel wonderful. It’s what being alive and part of the winter thaw is all about.  The stretching my legs after months of being cooped inside because of the cold, is so amazing.

I used to be a self-proclaimed anti-runner, but last summer as I decided to loose a bit of weight; I jumped on the  bandwagon.  More like I huffed, puffed and trudged onto the bandwagon, but I got running. I lived next to this adorable little park in Boston called The Fenway and it was so nice to be able to do a couple laps around the park and mosey on home.  In Paris, we’re obligated to go out and find a place to run as our neighborhood isn’t the ideal place for hitting the pavement.

First day out, we did the Seine near Notre Dame and then the next time we did the Tuileries in front of the Louvre and also the first part of the Champs Elysée. Today, we tackled the canal area, running past Republique et all the way to Bastille. It was nice and the Canal is going to be great in the summer. And by great I really mean AMAZING - all caps, full on.

Running has become a great way to see the city. We’ve found new nooks each time we’ve been out. Though we look pretty hot doing it. And by hot I mean NOT AT ALL. We look like New Jersey housewives with our cropped capris, oversized t-shirts and puffed vest. As we schelp around the streets of Paris where everyone looks gorgeous in every shade of black imaginable, we can only laugh at ourselves and how awful we must look - but whatever it’s always a good time.

We are thinking of running a 10k. This could get messy, but hey - as long as messy includes loosing a few pounds; I’m prepared. :)

Another Northeastern News Article

This is another thing I wrote for the Northeastern News; it was published today. Enjoy!

Editor’s note: This letter was submitted before Easter and therefore discusses the holiday in the future tense.I’ve been a practicing vegetarian for nearly three years, but this year for Easter I will be, strangely enough, roasting a rack of lamb. Call it tolerance, call it bad luck or even call it homesickness. Somewhere between 11:30 p.m. and midnight Thursday my roommates and I decided we needed to have an Easter meal for our group of friends abroad here in Paris, and that of course included: a rack of lamb.
I’m not even religious, but I still get excited when I see splendorous holiday tchotchies lining the windows near each appropriate holiday. Oh yes, holiday delight is international, so there is never a worry about missing junk decorations (that, let’s be honest, make us all smile inside).

This isn’t the first dinner we’ve had in the sheer name of keeping things together and familiar. Last November, 35 of our collective friends gathered into my bedroom (cleared of all furniture and replaced with tables and chairs from various apartments) and gave thanks - some for the first time. That night we created something powerful, something a bit bigger than ourselves, as we gathered together on such a traditionally American holiday. One of the guys got to cut the turkey for the first time - a job typically reserved for the patriarch of his family.

A lot of times we’ve laughed at the idea of our expatriate community and the fact that we are pulling something together for the sake of normalcy you get only when you smell your mom’s best dish cooking in the oven. Yet holiday after holiday we are seen piecing together something our mothers and grandmothers would be proud of, searching for that same feeling we scoff at when we are feeling brave and a bit more removed.

No one wants to admit they are homesick. I haven’t been home for Easter in four years, so I am not new to slightly burnt entrees and less-than-traditional presentations at the novice dinner table, but even so, I still wish I could spend every single holiday with my family.I guess you could say I’ve been slightly homesick for almost four years at this point.

It’s a dull ache you deal with and sometimes you even roast a rack of lamb to numb it.

- Brittany Blackmon is an international business major on co-op in Paris. She is also the worst vegetarian ever.

Joyeuses Pâques

Paris Book Club

I’ve also started a book club in Paris with a bunch of my friends.

Because I’m really nerdy.

The list:

• To have and have not
• Stranger in a Strange Land
• Anthem
• A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
• Prayer for Owen Meany

Other books that were suggested include:

• Slaughterhouse Five
• 3 cups of tea
• Chronicles of Narnia
• The World According to Garp
• Salt
•  100 years of Solitude
• Illiad
• For One More Day
• Shadow of the Wind

Petite Anglaise

I went to a book reading the other night to hear a British blogger that has written a book inspired by her blog. It was a really good time as we were given glasses of champagne and then the opportunity to have our books signed.

You can check out her blog here.

I also bought a lovely copy of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It has gilded pages.