PS

This is right outside my apartment. I'm in good company :)

Des parcs sont très beaux

I slept in big time today. I didn't expect to sleep in so late, but traveling evidently got the best of me. I woke up around 12:30 and eventually got up and out into the world around 1. I visited my neighbors who own the too expensive restaurant and we had a lovely conversation, I think. My French is questionable at best. I think we talked about how we were both excited that I finally got the key to my apartment. He asked if I liked Paris and my apartment and offered me some water.

Speaking of my apartment, bienvenue.


Here is my front door




Here is the hallway .. keep going!




These are the stairs.. go up and...




.. take a right. There's the door to my apartment!




This is it! I have a tiny little apartment perfect for adventuring in Paris.


I live on Rue du Vertbois in the 3ieme Arrondissement.


After I exchanged pleasantries with my neighbor, I met Elizabeth and Katie (my new English speaking friends en Paris) around 2 and went for a walk to les jardins a le Palais Royal (which you can read about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palais-Royal) We spent our afternoon walking around the gardens, talking about experiences in Paris, school, and our plans for the future (Katie is a finance major and wants to go to law school; Elizabeth is a music major and wants to pursue activism for the rights of children). We parted ways around 6 and decided to meet up again on Friday afternoon for a tour of the 1ere arrondissement and to attend a free fashion show at Les Galleries Lafayette next week. Free is good in my book. Friends in Paris are even better.

ALSO! I bought a map today. This will surely come in more handy than guessing and asking store clerks "Ou est rue du Turbigo?" (although, they are quite helpful).

Once I got home, I took a quick break. I'm still really exhausted from the flight and can't wait for my body to catch up! I ate dinner in ma petite chambre and then ventured back out into the world. Right down the street from me is La Place de la Republique (which you can read about here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_de_la_République).

Here are some pictures of that pedestrial adventure:

Here is a garden and a fountain and shade.. ohh shade.



Here is the monument at the center of La Republique


For Erin, Kristina, and Logan: a bona fide green man.

I took more pictures and they are posted on Facebook with no commentary. They are pretty Parisian things for which I have yet for learn the history. Trust me, I will.

Tonight, while I unwind, I will watch House in French. C'est tres drole.

Tomorrow is "Visit Dead Person's Grave" day. I'll say hey to Jim Morrison and Pierre Bourdieu for everyone.

A bientôt!


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Je suis arrivée!

I'm finally here. The flights were wonderful - although I'm paying for it now. I couldn't sleep on the planes and when I arrived in Paris, I was dead beat. I got to my apartment an hour and half earlier than the person who was going to give me the keys. I sat outside the door like a little homeless child and made friends with the restaurant owners on either side of me. They are so kind! Their restaurants are too expensive to ever eat at, but I will continue talking to them in the morning like I did today. They don't speak English, so it will be great to practice with people who won't let me cheat.

Once I got inside (ohmygoodnessthisplaceistiny), I immediately went down for a nap. I half listened/watched Law and Order in French and understood absolutely none of it. (I'm currently watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch in French and I understand ... still, none of it.) But it's okay! I'm here to learn.

After my nap, I ventured off to find a friend of Elder Cox (I volunteer with him at the Deaf Cultural Center in Kansas), Elizabeth Smart. We met around 4pm, talked and made plans to go walk around des Jardins Luxembourg in the afternoon. After we parted ways around 6pm, I made a valiant attempt at getting back to my apartment without getting lost. It was a good effort, but I did get lost anyway.

I met with Yael for dinner. We ate at an incredible Jewish restaurant in le 4ieme arrondissement. It was a loooonnngg walk (really not that long, I guess, we just kept getting lost). Dinner was delicious, Paris is beautiful, my neighbors are wonderful, life is good.

Before I spend my afternoon in the Luxembourg Gardens, I will find the school for the Deaf. LSF training starts tomorrow!

Pictures to be posted soon - I promise!

Now, I am beat and need to get a good nights sleep to get on France time. Bon soir, mes amis!


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But Amsterdarn is just so much more proper

I'm at the airport, checked in, passed through security, waiting at the gate, spending my time with a screaming infant. Papa drove me to Logan (THANKS IZZIO!) and now I have 1.5 hours to kill while I wait for the flight to Amsterdam - er - I mean Amsterdarn. Papa thinks it's much more proper this way. I will arrive at my apartment between 12-1 p.m. Paris time (7-8 a.m. Boston time; 6-7a.m. Kansas time)



See ya'll in Paris!

9 rue du Vertbois Paris, France 75003

http://www.parisattitude.com/apartment.asp?numProduit=5768

Here's the link to my little piece of Paris this summer! I'll post real pictures when I actually arrive. I was reminded that I'll have a washer and dryer in the apartment and my decision to only pack a duffle bag full of clothes is looking less silly.

DiPardo Family Gone Wild

T- 72 hours to take off.

Life's a Beach

I leave for Paris in 3 days. OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG. I'm leaving for Paris in 3 days.

In the mean time, I have been spending oodles of time with friends and family in the Boston, Cape Cod, Newport areas of the northeast.


We're a big deal around here. The sign tells me so.


On Saturday (6/19), the DiPardos, Perrottis, and Morins got together to celebrate and honor the family elders. I have been attending family reunions for as long as I can remember, and for as long as I can remember I have the same conversation with my family: "I'm Giovanna's granddaughter. JoAngela's first born. Brittany." By the time I get through reintroducing myself to my family every year, it's time to start saying goodbye. The good news is that most of the men in the family have the EXACT SAME NAME: we have at least 3 each of: David, Christopher, Jimmy (or James), or Anthony. Say one of those names, and someone is bound to turn around. Also, I noticed that most of the family will wear navy blue and white to these reunions. "It's nautical," Gina Drainville (somehow related to me) says. Newport is nautical.



Navy blue and white? One of us.




More fun facts about the family reunion

Fun fact 1: the three celebrated members, Elaine DiPardo, David Morin, and Gene Perrotti all married into the DiPardo family. The family tree will be posted soon.




Fun fact 2: each one of the million people to whom I am related brings a dish to the reunion large enough to feed everyone there. "If you leave hungry, it's your own damn fault." I'm sure I could quote any one of the Anthonys or Christophers on that one.

On Sunday, the Morins celebrated Papa's fatherhood, grandfatherhood, and twice as of recently, great grandfatherhood (although, as he argued at the birthday party, he's always been a great grandfather. He didn't need Ben and Hailey to tell him that).




My sister and I spent the early part of the week on the Cape with our Dad. Tuesday, we went to the beach (the beach where we spent most of our childhood summers) tanning, swimming, eavesdropping, and taking jumping pictures.


Bayview Beach


I think my ballet teacher would be impressed with those 3rd arabesque arms.


She looks a little crazy, but that's my Andy Pandy!




In completely different news, the news piece about Luther "Dummy" Taylor and the Deaf Cultural Center in Olathe, KS aired today! You can view it here (you know you want to). If you get a chance, congratulate Chuck and Sandie on jobs well done!

http://www.ktka.com/news/2010/jun/23/town-looks-remember-baseball-legend/

You have to see so and so's grave!

Today is family reunion part 2 (I'll share all of the stories and pictures in a future post). Many of my family members insist on me visiting so and so's grave. "Will you please take a picture of Morrison's grave for me?" has been the most popular.

I've also been directed to see Chopin, Eiffel, Rin Tin Tin (yeah.. the dog), Wilde, and many many more. I decided to dedicate July 1 to "Famous Dead People Buried in Paris." If you, dear readers, would like me to take a picture of or with your favorite dead celebrity, I'll be happy to oblige. Here's the list of dignitaries with whom I'll be spending my day:

Marie Curie
Rin Tin Tin
Gertrude Stein
Moliere
Oscar Wilde
Edith Pilaf
Simone de Beauvoir
Marcel Marceau
Frederic Chopin
Louis Braille
Victor Hugo
Gustave Eiffel
Jim Morrison
Napoleon Bonaparte
Jean Baptiste Morin

feel free to add to this list as you wish! Tell me who and where to find them.

http://www.findagrave.com/php/famous.php?page=state&FSstateid=1431

Packing.. or not.

This is what 15 hours before leaving the country for 2 months looks like, before and after.

I'd like to say for the record that I have enough clothing for 2 months in Paris packed into that duffle bag. Momma, you taught me well.

Telling Lies in French Sign Language

Today I had lunch with one of my friends from the DCC - we will call him John. Mostly because that's his name. After lunch, we scooted over to Borders to enjoy free wi-fi and conversation about regional signs. True story, if you want to see him giggle himself silly, tell him you're from Cape Cod. (smile)

Anyway, we were practicing some French signs and we put together a sentence: It's easy to understand French sign language.

This, of course, would be a more useful phrase if it wasn't a flat lie. I have my go to phrase (how do you sign #?) [# if I remember correctly is what you throw in front of a word to indicate fingerspelling. If I'm wrong, it will have that meaning here] and it is the single most useful tool that has helped me improve my American Sign Language in the last few months (years). As long as the French are as patient with me as my friends at the DCC, I'm sure I will learn incredible things in Paris.

Today is a short update -Aislinn and I are going to E. Cox's ASL class in a little bit. I wanted to share these fantastic two websites sent my way:

Experience Free Paris (I'll be dead broke there, so free Paris is awesome Paris)
http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/2008/03/free-city/paris-text/2

Eat your way through Paris (NO PROBLEM)
http://www.salon.com/food/francis_in_france/index.html?story=%2Ffood%2Ffrancis_lam%2F2010%2F06%2F10%2Fperfect_paris_picnic

That's it for today. Snack time with Aislinn.

Correction

Yael: Correct the translation in your blog! I haven't approved this one.

** Bonjour Brittany, il est clair que de savoir parler le Français aidera bien sur à comprendre la LSF. Mais la langue des signes a ceci de bien, c'est qu'elle exprime bout à bout un sens et non des mots! C'est pour cette raison que tu ne rencontras pas trop de problême pour te faire des amis Sourds. Por ta deuxième question, les fins de semaine sont plus propices aux rencontres et plus les 4èmes Vendredi de chaques mois!!.. See you soon Brittany! **

Here is my rough translation: Hello Brittany (that's me), it is clear that knowing how to speak French will help you better understand LSF (French Sign Language). But sign language is about expressing a sense and not the words. It is for this reason that you will not have a problem making Deaf friends. For the second question, the weekends are the best to meet people and also the fourth Friday of each month!!.. See you soon Brittany! (that last part was easy).

THIS one has been approved by Yael.

Who's Ready for PARRRRIIISSS?

Thursday will be my last day volunteering at the DCC until the fall semester. Friday, I leave for Boston. I think it would be an understatement to say that I'm not quite ready to be jet setting across the Atlantic for two months. I mean, I'm READY. Don't get me wrong, I want to t be there YESTERDAY. I have nothing packed and my apartment is still in shambles from my last last-minute-packing-for-NY trip. My plan for now is to have everything laid out in my living room and when I can find luggage large enough for a 2 month trip, I'll pack.

Jason is subletting from me for 2 months (thankgoodnessforhim) so I need to get this place back to a respectable standard of living. Toto is spending 2 months with his new best friend Isabelle (who incidentally has lightened up a bit having met him).

I officially leave for Paris on June 28, but I will leave Kansas on June 18 (yeah, that's three days from today). On the 19th, I'll go to a dipardo/perotti/morin family reunion in Newport RI and enjoy great food and great conversation with what might be the world's biggest family.

There really isn't much interesting going on quite yet. As far as actually being in Paris is concerned, I have been in contact with a few people. Yael, my former resident, might be adopted as my tourguide/interpreter. She doesn't know this yet. Momma Jo has a friend, Marielle, who lives in Paris and has agreed to meet up with me a few times while I'm there. I have been e-mailing the owner of the Deaf Restaurant and he has been so kind to keep me up to date on happenings in the Deaf Community, or, at least I think he is:

** Bonjour Brittany, il est clair que de savoir parler le Français aidera bien sur à comprendre la LSF. Mais la langue des signes a ceci de bien, c'est qu'elle exprime bout à bout un sens et non des mots! C'est pour cette raison que tu ne rencontras pas trop de problême pour te faire des amis Sourds. Por ta deuxième question, les fins de semaine sont plus propices aux rencontres et plus les 4èmes Vendredi de chaques mois!!.. See you soon Brittany! **

Here is my rough translation: Hello Brittany (that's me), it is clear that knowing how to speak French will help you better understand LSF (French Sign Language). But sign language is about expressing a sense and not the words. It is for this reason that you will not have a problem making Deaf friends. For the second question, the weekends are the best and also the fourth Saturday of each month!!.. See you soon Brittany! (that last part was easy).

This translation has been approved by one French speaking Yael Hirschhorn.

Soo, I'm sitting here in my freezy-cold apartment (I prefer it this way), cuddling with my cat and listening to the thunderstorm and rain.

OH ALSO!

Brittany Morin-Mezzadri
9 rue du Vertbois
75003 Paris, France

T- 2 weeks

I leave for Paris in two weeks. The last time I went, I had to write in a journal every day to be turned in at the end of the semester. In true freshman fashion, I waited until the last week to do three weeks worth of entries. I sincerely hope I can commit to the cause.

In any case, I will be in Paris for 2 months to learn French and French Sign Language (yes, they have their own. no, sign language is not universal). There is a cafe in Paris (http://www.cafesignes.com/) owned and operated by Deaf Parisians. In the best french translation I could muster up, I believe that I read the restaurant was established with for the purpose of providing deaf and hard of hearing people an opportunity to work. I plan on spending a lot of my time at this restaurant to learn as much LSF and meet as many people involved in the Deaf community as possible.

Also, I will be interning at the INJS (the Parisian School for the Deaf) for the same purpose. Meet people. Learn things.

I found an apartment in the 3rd arrondissement. I will call 9 rue Vertbois my home for the next two months. Feel free to visit.

I'm dead tired right now - 9 hour shift at the pool and I have to be back to open at 5 a.m. Ouch. In the mean time, I have a lot of packing and planning to do before I leave for Boston on Friday.

More to come soon!