Off to gay Par-ee!

Ok, I'm not really off to gay Par-ee yet, but on Monday I will be! I can't believe it's four days away. I'm so utterly unprepared and I like it. After all these years of travel I've finally become somewhat good at packing (which basically means I can do it quickly and I don't forget my pajamas), meaning I should be able to thrown things together on Sunday and be ok for a month.

While in Paris, I'll be taking an intensive French class that meets Monday-Friday from 8:30am - 1:30pm (Alliance Francaise). I took 1/2 of a French class in Tübingen in the fall, but it didn't work out so well, in both learning and schedule ways, and so I gracefully withdrew myself (aka I quit, boo). So I'm thinking I'll still be in the absolute beginner class when I get there, and as long as I'm not in the absolute beginner class when I leave, everything should be just fine.

What do I plan to do in my free time? Funny you should ask. My very first order of duty is to find a French soap opera to become addicted to. The requirements is that it be trashy and aired every weekday. Cheap soap operas helped me immensely as I learned Germany -- easy plots that you can follow without understanding and that creepy addictive quality make for the perfect combo. Other than that, I also plan to walk around a lot and maybe talk to strangers while I'm at it. Chances are I'll also be spending some quality time with my lovely old friends Natalie and Zosia. Many of you may remember Natalie from the elementary school part of my life and Zosia from the university in Canada part. Both of them are living in Paris at the moment and I will have the pleasure of enjoying their company (and hospitality) all month long.

Well, I should get back to writing my paper on militarized masculinities in UN peacekeeing.

Toodles