France Study Abroad

Over the Hump: Part 2

Saturday ended a long while after it began, and Sunday began much sooner than I thought it would. We had a destination in mind, a park in the middle of the mountains which had a waterfall we could walk to. After a small detour to try to follow signs for Farm Cheese, only to arrive about 45 minutes later to a closed store, we found the park and chose the route to take up the mountain. Although not a hiker by nature, I figured it couldn't be any harder than 24 miles through Connecticut with a 40-pound cross. And so we set off up the mountain. Shortly after reaching about midway we lost two of our group members to an easier route back down the mountain, skipping the falls, but seeing a reconstructed 19^th century Irish household. The rest of us made it to the falls and back down safely. Pictures are in the slideshow below. As most of us were tired, that was the extent of walking too much that day. We returned to Kenmare and explored downtown, had a drink, and went back to the cottage to get ready for dinner. After our dinner at a nice restaurant we went to listen to some live music at a pub. We were mellowed out by then and returned to the cottage for a good night's sleep.

Monday began as any other day, breakfast in the cottage, and discussions on the plan for the day. We finally decided upon driving up to Kerry to see some castles. Before reaching the castles some of the group explored a beach, but to me all beaches are the same, I wanted to get to the castles. The pictures describe the castles quite well, and I am determined to return without my mother so I can climb to the top without giving her a heart attack. We saw a castle in the midst of falling apart, and a restored fort both dating back a couple hundred years. We took what seemed to be the long road back to the cottage, although that was, I think, because the adults were attempting to find a chocolate factory. This was ironic as all I could think of was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the fact that he made Gobstoppers. Gobstoppers are the one candy I have been craving since I stepped foot in Europe and they do not exist here. Just nature's way of teasing me! We never found he chocolate factory, and headed home. The men, minus myself, made dinner, and it was quite good.

Tuesday was a planned day before it even began. We went to Muckross House, a mansion that has been preserved from the late 19^th century. It was quite impressive to see how rich people lived back then. I really enjoyed the bell system they used to summon the servants. 32 bells were attached by string to different places in the house, and the servants had to recognize which bell went where and what bell the pitch of the ring was associated with. I thought that part was very cool. In the afternoon, we were set to kayak near a castle. Unfortunately I downloaded mom's camera onto my laptop Monday night and didn't get any pictures from Tuesday. But, it was very cool to kayak on the lake. We went to explore a 6^th century monastery, which was used to instruct many of the king's sons back in that time. As the least physically active of the group I was not all that excited to kayak, but my age and lack of physical activity equaled their age and level of physical activity, so it was well balanced. In all it was a great experience, and my first, actually in a wet suit, maybe my last too. Tuesday night we had a great dinner, my last in Ireland, as Wednesday morning we go up extra early and I was off to the airport to come back to Paris.

Work since Wednesday has been nothing special. I hope to start interviews either today or tomorrow. My last day here is Thursday as my flight home is Friday. My guess is that I will film for the next 3 and a half days and edit the film on my way home or when I get back. SHU should see my arrival on Sunday, and I begin work on Monday. I can't wait to get home, as I've missed quite a bit. I hope weather is getting better, as it remains sunny here. Today is quite hot actually, not a cloud in the sky! Enjoy the pictures below:

Over the Hump: Part 1

I'll do my best to concentrate here, but my attention is partly being devoted to fending off the brother and sister next to me who are waving neon-colored feather pens in my face in an attempt to attract my attention. If I remember from 2^nd grade, if I just ignore them, they will stop. Well, now the girl has torn the feathers off and is throwing them around like confetti. But, on the bright side, the man behind me is getting tickled by the feathers against his will for now. Ok, now that I have de-feathered myself, I should explain that I'm on Ryanair flight 132 Shannon, Ireland to Paris-Beauvais on my way home from a great long-weekend in Ireland with mom and some friends. I must comment first off, that Ryanair has truly realized that when you are on an airplane you can't avoid the flight attendants. So, they have made them salesmen. Every few minutes they go up and down the aisle with phone cards, scratch tickets, food, newspapers, magazines etc. It seems like a genius business model, but it's a good thing they have cheap flights, it's almost not worth having to listen to all of the sales pitches.

Ok, one paragraph spent describing 10 minutes, you're in trouble now that I have to describe the last 4 days. It all began Saturday morning at 4:30 AM, I ventured to the train station to get to the airport, and after some creative maneuvering I came up with the necessary money in the necessary form to get to the airport. My flight from Paris to Dublin went smoothly and I made it to my gate in Dublin only to find a delay. Not bad, only 15 minutes delay so I wasn't too mad. But, then rumors of the flight being cancelled began circulating the gate, and soon after the flight was in fact cancelled. This wasn't too bad for me as the next flight from Dublin to Shannon was the one my mother was to take. And so, I began the process of getting a new boarding pass. This was greatly aided by my lack of checked baggage and I was soon back up at the gate ready to go. When mom still hadn't shown up by the time everyone had boarded I got a bit nervous, but I ended up boarding without her and she came on soon after. Then we sat at the gate for 45 minutes as the flight crew reconciled a difference between the number of people checked into the plane and the number of people on board. We took off and landed in Shannon only about an hour late, and got the bags and went to get the car. My mom was with two other couples. The women are part of a group which has been friends for as far back as elementary school, and their husbands were along for the vacation. The eventual destination of their trip is a wedding in Maynooth this weekend for the daughter of a friend of theirs. When everyone had their luggage we went to get the rental van. I never really put together that in Ireland they drive on the other side of the road and the driver's side is the other side. Luckily, John was up first for driving and got used to it pretty quick, and we began the task of navigating Ireland's roadways. Having been up since 4:30 that morning I slept most of the car ride to lunch, and from lunch to get groceries. After that I watched the scenery as we winded through the hills and mountains of Ireland. I was very impressed with the scenery in Ireland. I had pictured farms and hills, but not mountains and rocky terrain. We eventually made it to the cottage and got settled. We went for an exploratory drive around Kenmare, the town we stayed in, to scope out things to do.

In an effort to maintain content for future posts, Ireland will be done in parts, so tune in tomorrow for Part 2 and some pictures!

On the Up and Up!

Today I experienced a bit of a revival of enthusiasm. After finding out last night that my mom's planned visit was not going to work out this weekend I was pretty unhappy beginning work today. I started the day looking at flights so that I could manage a way up to Ireland to see her, and finally I found a very complicated route that would allow me to get there for a decent price. This made me quite a bit happier. Then, in a revelation of miraculous proportions, I realized that the work I was doing here was work that I, or anyone, could do essentially anywhere in the world. This told me that the fact that I was working at the Paris office was a bit of a waste, as I didn't need to be here to do it. So I proposed a documentary on the organization that will be used for promotion of the cause in the United States. This was very well received. The Director said they had been looking into doing just that for a while now (which begs the question of what were they thinking making me work on a website when I told them I was interested in films, particularly documentaries). And so, tomorrow I will meet with the Director, Marco, and Fr. Desbois to pitch the documentary I have in mind and get some input from them. Then, Saturday, very early morning I will leave for Ireland where I will be with mom and her friends until Wednesday morning. At that point I will come back here and begin work on the documentary. This project has two very positive results to it. I will be able to do something I really enjoy and can get very enthusiastic about, and I will have a finished project come July 13^th that will be used to promote the cause. So, it's a shame it took 3 weeks (this morning marked the 3-week mark) to figure this out, but on the other hand, I have a really exciting vision for the documentary and can't wait to start it.

And so, things are looking up here. I will be able to see mom this weekend which will be nice, and then when I get back I spent the last two and a half weeks making a documentary. Life is good.

Extra! Extra! Read All About It!

You know last night was pretty rough. I was lonely, upset, and to be honest felt trapped in France. Today brings a new day, and what does the man upstairs do for me? He brings people from my home land over to Paris. Today marked the opening of the international symposium Operation 1005: Nazi Attempts to Erase Evidence of the Holocaust. The symposium is being sponsored by two Paris universities College des Bernardins, Sorbonne, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, aka USHMMCAHS (those representative from this sponsor would be the ones sent from my home land) and Yahad-In Unum, the organization that I am working for. Now, while most of the day was spent doing conference work, it was the end of the day that made me feel most at home. After the day was over the speakers and sponsors were invited to the Sorbonne for a reception. This reception took place in the Office of the President of the University. Alas, I felt at home. Though, there was no milk, I did have A LOT of orange juice, as opposed to Champagne. It felt nice to be back in a President's office, having been in a few meetings in the SHU President's office last semester. It is interesting to note that 4 of the many attendees this evening, myself included, were at one point in the SHU President's Office together. Suzanne from the Holocaust Museum, and Marco (director of Yahad-In Unum) and of course Fr. Desbois, were all together amongst a collection of other important people. The purpose of the gathering, however, was not only to celebrate a wonderful first day of the conference, but the President, Georges Molinié, read a press release that was sent out this evening. It appears that Yahad-In Unum and the Sorbonne will be opening a very large research program and archive center to further Holocaust studies, particularly the Holocaust by Bullets in Eastern Europe. I couldn't help but think of whether this would ever be a moment to tell the grandkids about. I suppose it would be if one of them studied the Holocaust many many years from now. I could tell them I was there for the announcement of this great partnership.

I have been noting many differences and some similarities amongst the universities in Paris, mainly Sorbonne and College des Bernardins, and Sacred Heart. At some point I will write a full report, but I want to include in this blog post, only because I really can't resist, a very similar scene as I entered the Sorbonne courtyard today. Scaffolding graced the side of one of the buildings, and down below a big blue sign saying (Restoration of the Sorbonne University Chapel 2007-2010). Again I had a real sense of being at home. It was nice I must admit to have a year in the future be on the sign announcing the project to passers-by. It begs the question: Will theirs be done in time to have 2010 still be a relevant year on the sign? I did take pictures, but technical difficulties are prohibiting their being posted.

And so, Day 2 begins tomorrow. Early day again, but we'll have to see what it has in store!

My First Weekend Away: Namur, Belgium

Tired after a weekend away, I figured I should update the readers on my much anticipated trip to Namur. In short it was a great trip. I was greeted at the train station by Sister Louise and Sister Cecilia, two sisters of the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur. We walked back to the residence and had a late night snack, it was about 10:30 by this time. We chatted a bit, mostly in French as that was the common language amongst the three of us. They showed me my room and I went to sleep very shortly after laying down. Not knowing too much about what was in store for the day ahead I woke up about 12 hours later and went back to the dining room to have breakfast. There was a note waiting for me saying Sr. Cecilia had to go to the coast to pick up a sister who was sick, and Sr. Louise had just stepped out to get some food for lunch. Sr. Louise came back shortly after I finished eating the wonderful pastries they had gotten for me earlier. It was quickly discovered that I had a knack for computers so I went up and looked at Sr. Louise's computer and was able to fix a few things for her. Afterwards we sat down and had a great chat. I showed her pictures from the Cross Walk I did in April which spurred a wonderful discussion that covered a variety of topics. Sr. Louise is English so we were able to talk in English which is obviously much easier. I happily obliged to take advantage of the "siesta" while we waited for Sr. Cecilia to come back. When she did come back we took a ride up to the citadel, an old system of roads, buildings, and walls for built for defense hundreds of years ago. It was some great scenery from atop the hill. They showed me around the city a little bit. I saw the cathedral and a church nearby. I can't help but love the detail in the architecture inside and out of the buildings. Dinner followed the citadel tour and then a nice card game, which I lost, but I'm told I was a fierce competitor. My early train this morning didn't allow for too much more time, but I was sure to get pictures with and of both of them. It was a wonderful trip, very worthwhile. I owe a very large thank you to Sr. Marie-Julianne for helping to set it up.

Tomorrow the conference begins, which means earlier morning than usual. So, I'm off to bed shortly. I hope you enjoy the pictures from the weekend, and I look forward to updating you on the conference either tomorrow night or Tuesday. A lot of work has gone into it, and it will be great to see it all come together over the next two days.

Next Language(s) To Learn: Ukrainian/Russian

As I wrote yesterday we had an office gathering at one of my co-worker, Hanna's, apartment. I really didn't think too much about it when I accepted, thinking I knew everyone and we would have a good time. At 6:00, work was over so a few of us went together on the train to Hanna's apartment. Well, you know how moms make suggestions in hopes that one day you will catch on and do it on your own? Well, I wish I had paid more attention. Had I done so I would have gotten something to bring to the get-together for Hanna before we arrived at the train station outside her building. But, no, instead we took a detour to get a bottle of wine. That being done we went to her apartment. As soon as we got in the door I was immediately reminded of dinner with the man from Ukraine. Incomprehensible conversations went on around me as I looked at the art on the wall. Then, I declined a drink seeing only wine and alcohol to drink, and when I was looked at strangely quickly saw the orange juice and selected that as my drink of choice. Then, it was time to smoke on the porch. I declined, they let this one go much easier, and I looked at the art again. Sitting down for appetizers involved cleverly picking a seat next to the chips which were the only appetizing things on the table. I finally caught sight of our main course and it was meat. It ended up being excellent, and then desert was apple and peach pie with green tea. None of which are foods I eat, so I passed them off graciously. Conversation started to build, luckily in French since some new guests only spoke French. They have all traveled to Ukraine and other places and were discussing different things about cultures where they had been. So, I joined the conversation to shed some light on American culture. So, the conversation turned quickly to me explaining to them the game of Beer Pong, and Flip Cup. Two games I don't even play, so to explain was very difficult. I don't think solo cups exist here, and if so I don't know the word for them, so I think they think you play it with wine glasses, as that's what I used in the demonstration (for Flip Cup I used a knife to demonstrate, as playing flip cup with a wine glass would not have gone over to well). It was interesting to see how captivated they were by this game. They all seemed very interested. Then they asked me if I had ever played this other game, which the guy grabbed a wine bottle and spun it, and made a kissy face and I said, "Spin the bottle? Yeah we played that when we were like 10." Apparently they play that as adults here. They all seemed to have stories about Spin the Bottle as if you mentioned Beer Pong to any college student. I can't remember any spin the bottle games, mostly because they all took place about 10 years ago. I also explained (or tried to explain) textsfromlastnight.com not doing it any justice, but it fit into the conversation so I gave it a whirl. Later on in the night we were all having a much more decent conversation and I could feel Hanna's husband eyeing me. He doesn't speak French very well, so I didn't really know what he was looking at. Then, he said something to Hanna, and she along with the guy next to me laughed. I asked what he said and they told me he thought I was strange because I wasn't drinking wine or champagne, I wouldn't smoke, and I wasn't eating much. I tried to explain that I was not all that thirsty and the meat filled me up too much to eat desert. I don't think he bought it. There were times when the conversation shifted into Russian, but luckily they drifted back rather quickly. It was a fun evening once it got going, and I enjoyed myself. It was nice to spend time with these people outside of work.

In other news, Red Sox are unjinxable. Beating the Yankees again last night, I now don't care if they lose every game, we are 8-0 against the Yankees, and that is enough for me. I'm off to Namur, Belgium for the weekend this evening, assuming I can straighten out some credit card issues. I'm back Sunday morning, and then Monday the conference begins. Weather, is cloudy today, but just as I wrote that we had bad weather yesterday, it cleared up and was nice the rest of the day. I'm hoping I will have some pictures to post after this weekend. I'm not sure of the internet situation, so I'll have to update you all on Sunday! Enjoy the U.S.!

Despite the Rain, It’s Been a Pretty Dry Week

The realization has begun to set in that I have seen most that there is to see here in Paris and now I am just working in a foreign country for the next month by myself. That said, I am going to my first office party tonight. We've all been invited over to one of the women's houses for dinner and such. It makes me feel pretty grown up. Then, tomorrow night I leave for Namur for the weekend and return Sunday morning. Monday and Tuesday will be quite busy as it is the conference Operation 1005 about how the Nazis tried to erase the evidence of the holocaust. Yahad-In Unum is co-hosting it and it is being attended by people from around the world. My job will be to assist those attending and help out where I can. The conference is taking place at the College des Bernardins, a Catholic College here in Paris. I went for a small orientation for the conference on Tuesday and sat in one of the classrooms and was immediately thankful for the carpeting in all SHU classrooms. It's an unadvertised aspect of SHU, probably because it should just be a given, but a necessary one nonetheless. While people were talking in this small room echoes bounced off the stone walls, the tile floor, and the stone ceilings. It's hard enough for me to understand conversational French, but when it is bouncing off the walls, well then I pretty much give up. I caught the necessary words though, and got my duties for the conference. One of the groups co-sponsoring the conference is the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. If you've watched the news in the past 24 hours you'll probably have heard that mentioned. It seems a white-supremacist walked into the museum yesterday and opened fire, killing a security guard. Reports from different news agencies all point to the alleged shooters web site. There, you can find many writings and events that prove what a strange man this was. He supposedly has writings denying the holocaust and makes other anti-Jewish statements. It's a tragic event in the few days before we are about to talk about how someone could deny the holocaust and try to erase the evidence. It's the work of Fr. Desbois that is really going to be the ultimate testimony that this did occur and the atrocity of it. I'm interested in hearing people in the office discuss the story and listen to their points of view.

I hope all is well back in the U.S., I hear weather is tough, and you would be happy to know that it has been rainy here as well. The week of wonderful weather ended, and this week has been quite dreary. We'll have to see what next week has in store. Being here six weeks allows one week of bad weather not to ruin the trip at all. Lastly, in a hopeful attempt not to jinx them, I would like to note that the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the seventh consecutive time this season, making us 7-0 against them so far. Though not a shutout like the night before, a win is a win. And oh, the best thing about the win is that we have captured first place in the A.L. East.

One Thing the French Do More Extravagantly Than Americans: Cemeteries

So I begin this post after reading that I missed seeing President Barack Obama by about a half hour as he strolled through one of the streets in Paris that I was on today. This comes after I missed his wife and two daughters by a few hours at the Eiffel Tower on Friday. Friday's visit was a surprise, and had I know they were coming back today maybe I would have made more of an effort to see them. Nonetheless today I experienced the Montmartre cemetery which I saw on my way to Sacre Coeur Basilica and vowed I would come back to as it looked very impressive. Now having seen it, I'm not sure impressive quite describes it.

As you can see in the pictures below the French seem to have gone over the top on their burial processes. It reminds me of fourth grade learning about the pyramids in Egypt and how the resting place had to be extravagant for the deceased. As some of the pictures illustrate it was like a little village of tombs. There was a combination of sepulchers (the room or chapel like structures) and sarcophagi (the above ground casket-looking structures) in the cemetery, each having its own inscription and familial touch to it. Many were inscribed with The [Insert-Last-Name-Here] Family, meaning it was a family burial place, although unlike the plots we see in the U.S., they were usually above ground structures. I saw very few standalone headstones like traditional U.S. cemeteries. Also, I didn't notice a theme of any kind. Just each individual families design of their final resting place. It seems that in the United States we have a sense of extremism, such that if there is money to be made somewhere, we've done it. This system of burial, however, doesn't seem to have taken off. I suppose there is a lot of money to be made making these tombs, but I think it is so counter-cultural that no one has tried it. The other thing I noticed is that it reminded me a lot of a neighborhood. With street names and everything families were laid to rest next to families, only naturally making them neighbors. The only thing they were missing was a tomb number to round out the address, but I suppose that would prompt mailboxes to go up, and I'm not sure the Montmartre Cemetery Homeowner's Association (it would be interesting to find out how that would work) would like that. Lastly, having spent 3 summers in High School maintaining my church's cemetery this posed an interesting problem. We were always told not to really touch the tombstones, just the grass around them. Well, given the densely packed tombs there really wasn't much grass, and I'm not sure what the policy is there for maintaining the tombs, I would guess maintenance is pretty simple (all the more reason to bring this burial culture back to the U.S.).

In all, it was a relatively low-key weekend. A walk last night with a co-worker was nice. We talked mainly about the differences in culture (France vs. U.S.) and were able to maintain that conversation for about 2 hours. Many interesting points from how Macdonald's (Magdo) is different to things like higher education here: about 200-300 euros a year all around, he was surprised to hear how much SHU was per year, and I in return was a bit jealous. I also made it to mass tonight. I found a parish run by Passionists from Ireland who run an English parish in Paris that has about 5 English masses over the course of the weekend. I went to the 6:30 mass this evening and enjoyed it quite a bit. Also, I seem to have jinxed the weather by mentioning I hadn't seen rain yet. Yesterday and today were cloudy and windy and today there was some rain, and this time it was not from plants being watered! Work starts up again tomorrow, so we'll have to see what is in store there, and then next weekend I am off to Namur, Belgium to the Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Mary of Namur. Sr. Julianne-Marie Farrington, Special Assistant to the President is from that order and has helped me to arrange a visit. It will be nice to be out of Paris and I'm excited to experience Belgium a bit. I hope things continue to be well in the U.S.

Living on Central Europe Time, Sleeping on Eastern Time

I'm still trying to adjust to the sleep cycle here. I feel my lack of sleep last semester has allowed me to work on such little sleep, but I'm not sure how much longer that will last. I'll make it there. So, the excitement of being in Paris has pretty much worn away and now it's down to business. I've done a lot of work on the website which feels nice but it is frustrating. I am updating a website that will be completely redesigned in September because it is so hard to update. My job is to fix it for the mean time.

Yesterday after work I went for a walk and ended up in the square of the Louvre with the three glass pyramids and all. The sun was setting which would have been a nice scene, but I couldn't wait that long and so I left. Someday when I have more of a concrete idea of what I'm talking about, I'll tell you about my revelations on the architecture and design of the buildings and the city as a whole. Paris has allowed me the opportunity to reflect on things that I see. There is something to be said for not completely understanding conversations around you as you walk down a street, you end up listening less to them, and more to your own thoughts as you pass various structures and moments.

Today we went to a seminar hosted by the President of Sorbonne University here in Paris. He apparently has a special dedication to holocaust studies and has worked closely with Fr. Desbois. It is there where we are co-hosting a conference on Germany's attempt to cover up the holocaust. While I'm sure it was interesting, and I could have understood him, I could not stay awake. It's funny, a night I can't sleep, during the day I can't stay awake! Anyways, I wrote about 3 pages in my notebook (meant for notes about the talk) about society's general apathy towards the direction of the world. It came out quite nice, and maybe someday some of you will get to read it.

Needless to say, the blog will be updated less I'm sure than before. It seems it is directly related to excitement and events here. I will try to maintain at least 3 times a week, and hope to include more pictures as I take them.

I hope all is well back in the states. The weather continues to be wonderful here, the only water I've felt from above is from people watering the window plants without a care in the world for who is walking below.

My First REAL Day of Work

Today began rather slowly. It wasn't too bad getting ready, no one really showed up until right before 10 so that was good. I was afraid someone would walk into my room while I was sleeping. It is after all just a door away from the offices. The guy who had the codes for the web site didn't come in until about 11 so until then I just kind of futzed around. I left for lunch at about 11:30 to meet Mons. Guy-Réal Thivierge, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU) of which our University President is President. It was nice to be back in a university atmosphere, and lunch was great. We had a great conversation about many different things. He is a very intelligent man, and very easy to talk to. He kept complementing my French skills, which is a great tribute to the great French Immersion program in Holliston. I went back to the office after lunch and began work on the web site. It was painfully slow and I'm hoping we can make proper arrangements so that we can just start from scratch and pretty much redesign the whole thing. The consumed the rest of my afternoon until present, and tonight, as with most nights this week will be spent attempting to adjust to the proper sleep cycle, which I haven't quite done yet.

Sorry no pictures this time, I posted most of them this morning. I hope things in the U.S. are well, and that the weather there is as gorgeous as it is here!