De @ MindSay

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ESTE É MEU FILHO HUMBERTO RIVERA BRACALE, CAMERAMAN, CAMPEAO DE SKATE. ESPECIALISTA DEM TRATAMENTO DE DEPENDENTES QUIMICOS, PRATICANTE DE VOO EM ASA DELTA E MARCENEIRO.

I have officially taken a leave of absence from University for one year. Now I'm an official job hunter, minus the University.

 

It was not without its hassles. My work experience co-rdinator decided to butt in on my conversation with the coordinator about the lateness of my last assignment, haggling me about the amount of days I've done (which I hadn't prepared because that's not what I was there for) and being all 'you must hand in your next assignment promptly!'

 

Let's just say I am CERTAIN that I've made the right decision in taking time out. Maybe by the time I come back (or if  I return) people will forget how muddled I've been with my work in first & second year and give me another chance.

 

So yeah, that's all settled. Oh and exam results are in on 9th July (or was it 19th? I'm pretty sure it's the 9th).

 

I'll be praying hard that I pass, because if I don't that's oh, say what's $800 + $600? That means that $1300 down the drain for those two subjects. Oh and I recently learned that Hecs has a 10% interest which makes it $100 more per year.

 

So yeah, got a lot of soul searching to do (as cliche as that sounds) at the moment. I know a lot of other people have it harder (as people at Church remind me). Whilst it does put things in perspective, it doesn't make things any easier.

 

Cirque de ole

 

This was fabulous. Jestar was right :). I went to see it for my sister with my family for her birthday (oh and it's my preasent from mum and dad too, cause the tickets were so very expensive). I can't give justice to the performance by trying to describe the aerial flying and the peculiar costumes and the very bendy acrobat lady.

 

My sister the gymnast soon to be Doctor wants to go to Circus class (has been before) but we don't know if they're already booked out (probably due to the popularity of Cirque de ole).

 

At the moment she'll have to settle to listening to Circus music and wearing her Cirque de ole shirt. She got a multi coloured one (the only one on sale $20 lol). I got a black one which was quite more expensive but the only one in a big small $29. Oh and a mug for work $15 very cool yellowish fire organge with pictures.

 

Sales

 

I went shopping today after my meeting with job seek obligation (they call it mutual obligation, I call it an obgliation). So I got a whole heap of stuff from the City Bookshop that was closing down. Two books I have to return because A= one of them was for my brother but it doesn't have enough horticulture in it and B= the other is a cheapo version of the Melways that isn't quite good enough in its maps.

 

I got 'The Bad Book' by Andy Griffiths on CD for $10 and a few good buys like that. So it wasn't a complete loss. I'll just return the other two (I have a receipt).

 

Oh and there's an outlet in the City that has cheap acid free scrapbooking stickers. I bought a bunch and used them to make cards and will use the rest for my scrapbook.

 

Ebay

 

I've bought 9 things on ebay and I think I've had enough. It's more of a hassle than anything if you don't have a credit card and rely on money orders. VERY expensive venture. I only bought things that I couldn't find in the shops easily.

 

Friday night

 

Had my friend's 19th birthday party. We went to eat dinner, then played pool and then went dancing. Very varied night to keep the whole group happy. It's actually a good way to have a party, variety, so that no one gets bored for too long.

 

Novel

 

Yep, up to chapter 3 with my latest idea. Yes, it seems like I keep on going back to chapter 1, that's because I haven't been happy with the previous plots. I'm sold on this idea (not my soul, lol, just my determination) and will try to put my energies in finishing this rather than worrying about everything else :).

 

I look forward to the next Novel group session (sorry I missed the last).

 

:)

 

Today = time to relax before work experience tomorrow. Which is actually very good, I'm learning heaps, even though learning on the job is sometimes hard. :)

 

Buenas noches :) Good night.

So I have made it to Montpellier, finally after months and months of planning. I left Minneapolis on a group flight taking icelandic air first to Iceland. I was super nervous about meeting these people that I would be studying with for the next 5 months. When I got to the airport i tried looking around for students that were equally sad, confused and touristy looking as I did. And sure enough, I spotted such a group, noticing the dorky touristy passeport neck purses that people wear ( I avoid this trend like the plauge, their is nothing so lame). We all introduced our selves to eachother, (there were about 13 of us that chose the group flight option). With that we began our journey to france. Like i said before our first stop was iceland. the flight from minneapolis to iceland was about 5 1/2 hours. I was really quite nice. I had a little laugh becasue the movie that we watched on the plane was "one fine day" with George Clooney and Michelle Pieffer. I wonder if they know that he's like famous now and has done other more interesting movies! lol. So when we arrived to iceland we got on another flight taking us to Paris. that was a 3 1/2 hours. And again, apparently the people of iceland are still catching up with American movies. Because our inflight entertainment was "Ground Hog Day" with Bill Murrey. Granted I love the movie, but come on now, really? that movie's like 20 years old. We ended up having a 6 hour lay over in paris, looooong! and I hate the paris airport, it is confusing as hellm its uncomfortable and their is poor sinage for lost americans. Luckly I speak french though ( I became translator girl) So i got us out of many questionable situations! We got lost, almost took our luggage when we wearnt supposed to, stood in a line that we were not supposed to for 45 mins!! and so on. We also realized just how poor we are going to be living in france. We stopped at this little cafe to get some for to eat, and it costed a fucking arm and a leg for a croisannt and a damn soda! Oh well c'est la vie! So we were 2/3rds done with our journey. My flight to Montpellier from paris was only an hour. I sat next to 2 little boys, who were so cute and rambucious amd ate this interesting salmon and avocado sandwich. When we arrived to montpellier it was like a huge amount of stress was lifted from us. We went to the bagage claim and stood waiting for our baggage, watching everyone go and grab their bags, only to realize that few U of M students were grabbing their bags. One of the airport people came to us and was like theirs no more! We thought he was kidding...he wasnt. We didnt have our baggage for our first night in Montpellier. One the airport ladies looked at us and said "Welcome to Montpellier!"...thanks bitch. After 27 hours awake, that was a great way to start our trip. We went to the hotel in taxi and my night only got better. I wasnt on the roster. So I didnt have a room....great. So to aleave my sorrows, stress and confusion, I did what any american college student would do. I went out the the bar! Me and a group of girls went in the Place de la Comedie, right next to our hotel. Its a super nice square that is full of life. It was so pretty! The whole square was lite up in white lites, it was the prettiest thing I've ever seen. And to make it better their is a huge gothic opera house that was cover in twinkling lights that said Happy New Year! We roamed the streets, taking in the sites. So every one in Montlpellier is so incredibly stylish! I love it, and I feel so incredibly underdressed! I am obbsessed with getting boots!!!! Everyone has boots, every type of boot that you could possibly imagine, and they mix them with their outfits so well. Its ridicolous. So I'm gonna buy boots, the sale season is coming up, so what better time! :) We went to a little cafe and ordered drinks. I got the most questionable drink. I was called the "tagada souin souin." Dont ask. I was the smallest drink i have ever seen in my life. It looked like a glass votive, or a candle holder. I was like pure vodka with a little strawberry syrup. and it was like 4 dollars! If I had had two of those I would have been drunk! While we were eating this guy came up to us and was like, you guys are american areant you....ah yeah? I guess he said he could tell by our eyes...ok, we'll take his word it! So I did Eventually find a place to stay. So that was my first night in montpellier. The second day we went to our new center for U of M students and did an orientation and registered for classes. It was really nice, we have computers, wireless and other stuff, qnd I registered for my classes. I'm taking a Translation course, a Grammer course, a Phonetics course, A Civilization of the South class, and a History of Communication in france class. It sounds busy but it should be nice. Later that night, the assistants took us out to dinner and they also took us to some of the hot spots of montpellier. The city is super young so their is lots to do! My friends and I decided to seperate though because we got some many stares because we looked like a ridicoulous group of tourists! So we went back to the hotel to change and then got ourselves some beer at the bar (the beer is called 1664, its good!) and then we headed out to antother bar to get some more beer! Being of age in this city is glorious! We'll I have to head to class so I'll update you on my family and my classes tomorrow! Hope everyone is doing well :) Salut!!! (Pictures will be added as soon as I get a chance to up load them!)

So, my family and I went to Paris for their last weekend in France! Magnifique! Of course, we didn’t have very much time there, so we had to cram every touristy thing into two days! Pas de probleme.

 

The first day that we were there, we went to see Notre Dame and St. Chappelle. The churches in Paris are so beautiful. All of the stained glass windows are incredible to look at. They’re so intricate. My mom and I were discussing how difficult it would be to construct one of them, let alone every window in the entire cathedral! I found St. Chappelle to be more beautiful than Notre Dame. The architecture in Notre Dame is really impressive, but it is somewhat dark and dreary in comparison to St. Chappelle. Here are some pictures of St. Chappelle (the first two) and then Notre Dame.

 

 

 

 

We also managed to make our way to the Eiffel Tower, twice. Once by day, and once by night. I would definitely suggest doing this, because it is amazing to see the light show of the Eiffel Tower at night. The Parisians think that it is tacky, but I was in awe. We went to the top of the Eiffel tower during the day, which was a little bit frightening, but very amazing.

 

We went on a boat tour to see the Eiffel Tower at night time, and it was so beautiful. The boat tour went along the River Seine, and it had an audioguide to give us more information about the buildings along the bank of the river. It was so romantic…too bad I was there with my parents, haha. (Just kidding mom and dad…it was great!)

 

We went to the Louvre on Sunday because it is free every first Sunday of the month! How convenient! I got to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo, and I disagree with everyone who says that the Mona Lisa is a disappointment…what do they expect? It is a little smaller than many of the paintings there, but I thought it was incredible. My favorite part of the Louvre was the pyramid. I’m so unrefined.

 

 

Of course we saw the Arc de Triomphe and Sacre Coeur as well. I couldn’t take any pictures inside Sacre Coeur because it is not allowed. We climbed the stairs of the Arc de Triomphe, all 284 of them, even though I only counted 273. It was quite a hike, but the view was worth it. My brother kept using those telescope things which cost 2E each. He had no problem dispensing 2E here and 2E there. My mom said that he thought they were quarters. They’re worth like $2.60!

 

 

Overall, Paris was exactly like it looks in the movies, and I didn’t find any of the Parisians to be stereotypically rude. I thought everyone was pretty nice and helpful. Maybe it is because I speak a bit of French. Maybe all the nice people were tourists. Haha. The only thing that happened that wasn’t very good was a thunderstorm in the middle of the day. We tried to outrun it, but to no avail. See for yourself.