Les chateaux de la loire; or, my other cribs

One of the best, if not the best, things about the UPS Dijon study abroad program are the vacations, organized by the program, specifically the wonderful Nathalie, to other cities in France.  For free.

Okay, actually, they’re paid for by the tuition we spent to get here, but I’m not shelling out euros for every bistro and degustation (there should be an accent on the e, but I’m not feeling the struggle to edit that) de vin and tour of a chateau, so I am calling it free.

This past weekend, we went to the Loire valley.  The Loire is a river (un fleuve) in the west of France where multiple kings built what were essentially summer homes (chateaux) to live in when they weren’t feeling la Louvre (originally the main palace of the kings, until Louis XIV built Versailles).

The Loire Valley is two train rides away from Dijon, equally a total of about six hours gazing at the peaceful French countryside.  Once we were there, though, we went to town on the chateaux.

The first chateau we visited was the Chateau de Blois, which is smack-dab in the middle of the town of Blois, where we stayed.  The Chateau de Blois was the most used by the French royal court; throughout the centuries, French kings built additions to the original fortress (making it fancier each time, naturally).

One side of the chateau; note the dope staircase built by Francois I.

One side of the chateau; note the dope staircase built by Francois I.

Also, the Chateau de Blois played an integral role in the Wars of Religion in France; it is where Henri III had the Duc de Guise straight up murdered.

That afternoon, we visited Chambord.  Chambord is the second largest chateau in France, after Versailles; unlike Versailles, it is not decked out.  From what I understand, Francois I built the chateau and then stayed there for about a grand total of 15 days.  It is basically just too big: impossible to heat in the winter, attacked with mosquitos in the summer (not that that is related to it’s size), and not the favorite landing spot of any king, ever.  The outside, however, is very beautiful.  It was built to be perfectly symmetrical.

I don’t have a picture that encapsulates how big and grand Chambord is; google it.

The next day, in the morning, we visited Chaumont-sur-Loire.  It’s a little chateau on a hill overlooking the Loire River.  The outside is appropriately medieval/Renaissance, but the inside is a little bit jarring; it was pretty much lived in up until the early 1900s, by a handful of royal people and then various rich people, so the inside decor reflects more of the Gilded Age aesthetic (I actually don’t know if the Gilded Age happened in France concurrently with America, but it’s more of a look than historical accuracy).

Ignore the aesthetically displeasing "Slippery When Wet" sign.

Ignore the aesthetically displeasing “Slippery When Wet” sign.

Our final chateau was Chenonceau, which is absolutely perfect and #lifegoals.  Chenonceau is small and romantic and built in the middle of a river.  Additionally, it was owned at times by two of the most badass woman in France: Diane de Portiers, who had Henry II wrapped around her toe, basically, and Catherine de Medicis, who I’m pretty sure single-handedly ruled France while her whiny sons kept dying (and was married to Henry II, which is admittedly a little awkward).  Anyway, they both connived to make Chenonceau the prettiest chateau in the Loire Valley, and they succeeded.

Someday, I am going to convince a king to be madly in love with me for his entire life and give me castles.

Someday, I am going to convince a king to be madly in love with me for his entire life and give me castles.

Have I mentioned that this weekend was included in the price of the program? The chateaux, the delicious meals, the hotel with a pool: I personally did not spend any of my own euro for this weekend.

Dijon: Welcome to My Crib

I have currently been living in Dijon, France, for a little over a month; long enough to get moderately well established in this city, to work out my favorite boulangeries, bars, and so on, and figure out how late I can sleep before I miss my tram and therefore class.

But I am mostly here today to talk about the city.  Dijon, of course, is mostly known stateside for mustard (in fact, my host family eats it literally every night with dinner, much like salt or pepper.  It’s much hotter mustard than normal, actually, and it reminds me quite a lot of the fresh-ground horseradish that my grandmother makes).  However, Dijon does boast some attractions other than condiments.

Wine, for example.

I would like the record to reflect that a) no one drank these because they are much too valuable and only worth collecting dust and b) I am 21 and a half.

I would like the record to reflect that a) no one drank these because they are much too valuable and only worth collecting dust and b) I am 21 and a half.

And other more classic French attractions: like most French cities, the centre-ville of Dijon is the oldest part of town, made of layers of buildings dating from the Gallo-Roman era, the early medieval periods, and the Renaissance.

The little tower in the middle of the photo is from the Romans: literally thousands of years old.  It is in my courtyard.

The little tower in the middle of the photo is from the Romans: literally thousands of years old. It is in my courtyard.

This is either a tiny(er) Arc de Triomphe or one of the last remains of the medieval wall that surrounded Dijon; it is possible that I misunderstood the tour guide.

This is either one of the last remains of the medieval wall that surrounded Dijon or a tiny Arc de Triomphe; it is possible that I misunderstood the tour guide.

In ye oldene times, Dijon was the capital of the Duchy of Bourgogne (Burgundy); now, Dijon is still the capital of Burgundy, but the government is socialist instead of monarchist.

The palace of the Dukes of Burgundy aka my backyard.

The palace of the Dukes of Burgundy aka my backyard.

The further you go out from the centre-ville, the most similar to blocks of concrete the buildings look.

I live smack dab in the centre-ville, on a road that runs a block parallel to the main shopping and walking road of Dijon.  This is highly convenient for my ability to access shops and restaurants and so on; this is much less convenient for my wallet.  (Everyone in France looks so stylish all the time, which is a far cry from UPS’s brand of hipster grunge.  And they always wear little booties, regardless of the rain or snow levels.)

I’m gonna sign off now, otherwise I’ll continue talking about how the French are just too stylish and beautiful.  Join me next time for more unorganized talks about my days.

 

Crosscurrents

  • Deadline: March 23rd.
  • What you can submit: 4 ART, 3 POETRY, 2 PROSE, 1 OTHER.

As you may know, Crosscurrents is Puget Sound’s student-run literary magazine. All of the submissions are made by and voted on by students. All submissions are viewed anonymously; therefore, a completely honest critique is made. If you are submitting artwork, there are photoshoots to have the work professionally photographed Monday (3/7) from 4-6PM and/or Thursday (3/10) from 5-7PM. Anyone can submit, by sending their writing/art to ccr@pugetsound.edu. Members of Crosscurrents meet every week and share opinions on the week’s submissions. After all of the submissions are decided upon, the magazine is complied and distributed.

Crosscurrents is an amazing and easy way to have published work. The more work submitted, the better the magazine will be. So, please, submit to Crosscurrentssubmit crosscurrents poster

Unemployment Tips

I’ve been unemployed since I graduated in December. A lot of employers want experience and I don’t have that yet. Some of us are lucky enough to find jobs before we graduate, others of us have to wait a bit longer. And waiting can be hard. You start lying awake at night wondering if anyone will want to hire you. When that happens, you just have to take a few deep breaths and tell yourself that everything will be fine. Lie if necessary. Because unemployment is so difficult, I’d like to share a few tips on how to deal with it.

  • Apply for jobs regularly. This one is fairly obvious, but I’m just going to say it anyway. Even if the company you’re applying to doesn’t respond, you’ll feel better for having done something. Indeed.com, Monster.com, simplyhired.com, craigslist, and loggerjobs are all good sites to check when you’re looking for employment.
  • Don’t turn into a mole person. By that I mean, leave the house. If nothing else, you need the fresh air. Take it from me.
  • Find an activity or activities you like and do it. I started assistant teaching at a karate school down the road. One of my best moments as a teacher was when a yoga ball we were throwing went passed me and knocked over a cup of water. I started to say sh** but then paused and said talking mushrooms instead. The older sister does this in Spy Kids One to avoid swearing in front of her brother.
  • Do something to keep up your skills. I majored in English with an emphasis in creative writing. To keep myself fresh, I started writing a couple of short stories. One of which is about a nerd romance or, as I like to call it, a nerdmance.
  • When all else fails eat ice cream. You’re going to get rejected a lot during this process and when you do it will feel like sh**…talking mushrooms. So you should eat ice cream to reward yourself for trying.

 

Good luck and don’t forget the chocolate sauce.

The REAL Oregon Trail

Every semester, I’m lucky enough to be able to put on a sketch comedy show with my family away from family, Ubiquitous They. Last semester, our show titled “UT Presents: Living in Garbage” was a huge success and featured something a little different: a video sketch!

Our awesomely gross logo for the show's posters, courtesy of Michelle Leatherby

Our awesomely gross logo for the show’s posters, courtesy of Michelle Leatherby

Fellow senior Michelle Leatherby wrote a sketch titled “The Real Oregon Trail” and it’s exactly what it sounds like. The script features some colorful characters making the trek out west with one twist: it’s a reality show. So the cast and the camera crew hiked out to China Lake Park and got shooting, costumed and all. Here’s some photos from filming!

Jedediah (Darrin Schultz) and Beth (Sophie Schwartz), the parents of the group

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The Puget Sound Bubble

It’s a thing. Students can be caught in the Puget Sound bubble, and it’s definitely where I’ve been, it’s already WEEK SEVEN OF THIS SEMESTER, like that’s crazy! Spring break starts next Friday! Midterms! Half a semester gone! I would say I don’t know where it went but when I look back, I totally do.

The spring semester is always more busy, harder classes (building upon material often learned in the fall), more life (because spring so people want to do more things), and looking forward to summer break (how can you not?). For Greeks, the semester starts off with a bang with formal recruitment which is a long but exciting process and then you get your new members and are thrilled to get to know them and go on coffee dates and then you get littles (or grand littles, or great grand littles, whereever you are in the familial line)! And while you’re caught up in all that excitement you still have your classes and extracurriculars! The first exams and papers due came and went and since all classes are on different schedules than there is likely no more free weeks, every week there’s some discussion, paper, lab write-up, proposal, draft, quiz, exam or something going on that you keep preparing for before moving on to the next one! Often you’re so busy trying to do those things and preparing for the next thing that you don’t have much time to yourself to think big picture-do I like my classes, should I explore this weekend, where I am I going with my major and life? It’s not to say that we as students don’t go out and party, or watch netflix or go out to eat because we do, but its often slipped in between everything else that we don’t notice the time passing by.

It’s crazy for me to look back on now, I’ve accomplished so much this semester and there’s still so much to go! April is literally the busiest month of the year for students, no one would refute that! And sometimes I wish I could go back and take a break, and think about how blessed I am to be able to have this busy life and a superb education that will hopefully guide me into the future. But for now, I have to get back to work on revising this proposal! xP

Building A Better Geek

Last week, I got the opportunity to interview one of my favorite professors on film for the first project in my Film Genres class. Professor Brett Rogers, author of Classical Traditions in Science Fiction and associate professor of Classics here at Puget Sound, gave me and my project partner Nate some insight into the study of classical receptions. We asked him to talk about an article he wrote for his book in which he discusses the move Alien Resurrection and Homer’s Odyssey. There was a time limit for the project (just under three minutes), so ideally it would have included a lot more! But time limit aside, it was a pretty cool experience.

Here’s the completed video!

To the President Elect

Dear President Elect,
We are so excited to meet you in just a few days, and to welcome you to this community. We are excited to work alongside you as Puget Sound grows and evolves.

Before we get acquainted, I thought it might be nice for you to hear a little bit more about the students which it will be your duty to lead so very soon.

So, some things to know about Loggers:

1) Loggers will ask hard questions, sometimes to you.
We want this school to be the best, most inclusive space it can be. We want to be rigorous and supportive, challenging and kind. We will ask you to help us get there. We will work hard, and we will ask the same of you. We cannot and will not stand back in the face of any and all injustice, and we ask that you take our hands and join us in the journey to make Puget Sound–and beyond–an equitable and progressive place.

2) Loggers are passionate, and we will offer our passions to you.
We will open our club meetings, our presentations, our banquets, our concerts to you, and we will sincerely invite you to attend, so that you can see what makes us happy. You’ll see some interesting things, I promise.

3) Loggers love the Pacific Northwest, and we hope you will love it alongside us
We are immeasurably lucky to live in this beautiful place, with our mama mountain high above us and the Sound bookending our city. We love to explore–to hike, backpack, kayak and so much more–and we hope you’ll appreciate our home as much as we do

4) Loggers value our city, and we hope you will engage with it as we do.
Tacoma is fascinating and beautiful and diverse and worth exploring, and we enjoy getting off our campus and being a part of this city. We think you will too, and we hope it will be a part of your work here to bring community members onto campus and vice versa.

We so look forward to meeting you. You’ve got almost 3000 hardworking, smart, engaged students, plus an amazing faculty and staff, looking forward to working alongside you.

See you soon.

Best,

A Logger <3

My Box of Stuff

On my desk, there is a box with two small glass jars, a bunch of envelopes and a collection of other things. This is my box of memorabilia. I’m a really sentimental person, so I’ve kept as many cards, tickets, notes and other small tokens as possible to hold onto as I go through life. I actually have another box full of stuff at home, but I left it behind because I didn’t want to risk losing everything at once.

I keep this box because they all represent different aspects of my life, both past and present. I simply don’t want to forget them.

Here are some of the things in the box:

  • This is the ticket to the first rave (and concert) I ever went to. I remember bouncing with excitement in class, I just couldn’t wait to see my favorite artists at the time. And it was amazing. I just couldn’t stop smiling through the entire performance. Afterwards, I had some of the best Thai food ever at 2AM at some late night Thai place in downtown San Francisco. I won’t ever forget this night.IMG_6061
  • I got this “coupon” last summer at my summer job. My boss started to give out boxes with random prizes in them at the end of the work week to end the weekend right and reward us for our hard work. The prizes ranged from cash, extra break time (this was a summer camp, so any second away from the kids were a godsend) and a free lunch delivery from my boss. I never cashed this in and there isn’t an expiration date… I wonder…

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  • These wristbands are from these spirit competitions that my high school put on every semester. These competitions were a battle of a classes, seeing who could win the most games and perform the best skits and dances. They are honestly some of the best memories of my life.

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  • I went to Bumbershoot for the first time after the first week of classes last Fall. It was the first festival I ever went to and it was such a fun time. I got to see a dance competition, listen to some artists I never had heard before and meet some interesting people while I stood in line. The highlight of this was getting to see Zedd, one of my favorite artists right now.

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  • Last summer, I got into a car accident. Seeing as work was a 45 minute drive away, I couldn’t ask my parents to take me every morning. So I started to take the train to and from work. It was my first time taking public transit by myself. While I never saw or met anyone interesting because I was usually napping, it was still a nice time.

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  • Finally, here are my bids from Rush Week. That week was a really fun time and if I could have, I would have picked both Fraternities.

IMG_6066So there’s my list of junk/sentimental stuff. What are yours? What meaning do they hold for you?

10 Books to Read During the Semester

It can be hard to read for fun during the semester, what with school, work, and extracurricular tasks. With this difficulty in mind, here are ten books that, for one reason or another, are the perfect books to read in the free moments that you have this semester.

  1. Nazi Literature in the Americas, Roberto Bolaño
    • This imaginative (fake) encyclopedia features short profiles of imaginary pan-American writers, detailing their lives and notable works. The final entry, which is also the longest, became the basis for Bolaño’s later novel Distant Star, and the “Epilogue for Monsters” is a useful index of the breadth and depth of Bolaño’s vision.
  2. Labyrinths, Jorge Luis Borges
    • The shortness of the stories, parables, and essays in this collection makes it easy to read between classes. However, Borges’s compression belies the cerebral nature of the pieces, which, I urge, should not be taken lightly. The perfect book for the millennial “intellectual.” Also, a college student reading Borges is automatically cool.
  3. Atlas of Remote Islands, Judith Schalansky
    • The minimalism of Schalansky’s illustrations rival the lightness of her annotations, which capture enough of each island’s stories to entice the imagination, yet which never indulge the reader—a good thing, considering the time that you could lose reading about each of Schalansky’s islands. Schalansky’s Atlas also comes in a “pocket” version, making it both portable and super hip for the on-the-go college student.
  4. Please Look After Mom, Shin Kyung-Sook
    • A longer work on this list, though not overlong at 272 pages, Please Look After Mom is a fluid read, presented in five easily digestible sections with an exciting 2nd-person narration. The writing is affective without being affected and does not suffer from the artificialness of works in translation.
  5. Citizen, Claudia Rankine
    • Aside from the fact that you, as a culturally-conscious member of an often dubiously-conscious society, should read this winner of the National Book Award for Poetry, Citizen is slim enough to slip between your planner and your calculus textbook—though I’m guessing that you won’t be tucking this one away until you’ve finished it.
  6. Night, Dawn, Day, Elie Wiesel
    • Though they’re not the happiest, you’ll nonetheless breeze through these books, if only because of their innate gravity and propulsive force. Night, in particular, will project you, as if you were weightless, through to final sentence of the trio, from the darkness of night to the equal darkness of a tepid sun. (Gross. Did I really just write that sentence?)
  7. Saturday, Ian McEwan
    • Saturday takes place over the course of one day, which, by a conservative estimate, is the longest it will take you to finish this well-paced novel. It also features prose from one of the cleanest and graceful stylists writing today. McEwan’s command of a foreign medical language is as natural, and as trenchant, as if it were his own.
  8. This is How You Lose Her, Junot Díaz
    • I had the privilege of attending a lecture that Díaz gave at the university in 2013. His prose maps perfectly onto his personality, though this comes across of its own accord in the short stories of this collection. Light, but never insubstantial, reading for the busybody college student.
  9. The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
    • Never as simple or as one-dimensional as its detractors make it out to be, The Old Man and the Sea is a literary goldmine. Themes ripe for interpretation include: individualism, symbiosis, the feminization of the sea (contrast with the gendering of the sea in Moby-Dick), the artistic/creative process, and the allusive co-termination of religion and the secular. And, of course, the lions on the beach.
  10. Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino
    • A petite book, consisting of visionary descriptions of various cities by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan, Invisible Cities is as much about language and meaning as it is about cities, and then some.