It's the evening of November 3rd here, and I must confess that I am locked in my room, obsessively refreshing various websites to see if there's any further updates about the election. Tomorrow night, I'm planning to head off to an election night bash that begins at midnight and ends around 6 a.m. -- bagels provided -- and then hopefully drag my weary bones off to six hours of lecture at St. Denis. Even typing it out, that seems like an insane plan. But I am so, well, excited about the election, the first presidential election I've voted in, that I think one or two days of exhaustion will be very much worth it when I look back in a few years.
But, you say, what have you been up to lately? Well, quite a bit! First, on an academic note, I think everything is going to be fine regarding the exposé disaster. (Thanks to everyone for their sympathies, though; you made a tough week easier!) I'm continuing to enjoy my classes, and am feeling pretty good about the rest of the semester.
Second, Mom came to visit! She and her intrepid traveling companion Sally arrived last Wednesday and left Sunday morning. Although the weather chose to be rather uncooperative, we had a great, very busy time wandering around a cold and drizzly Paris. I wanted to show off the town, and we saw everything: the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre and the Tuileries, Sacré-Cœur, the Quartier Latin, the Hôtel de Ville and the Marais, the Luxembourg Gardens, and, of course, fabulous Issy-les-Moulineaux! And that's not counting the museums we visited and our day trip to Versailles. And the pauses for a crêpe here and there, of course.
I was also really pleased that Mom was able to meet my host family here. Madame invited us all to dinner, and she set out an absolutely lovely meal, with pâté and salad, a seafood gratin and Persian-cooked rice, and chocolate mousse. Madame used to teach English, so we had hardly any language difficulties, and I think everyone enjoyed the evening. I know I certainly did, especially when Madame offered to drive Mom and Sally back to their hotel, because she chose a route along the Seine that really showed off Paris at night; it was a real treat for me, too, since I usually take the subway everywhere and had never even seen some of the things we passed, and Madame gave a little commentary on what we were seeing.
Saying goodbye to Mom was very hard, and part of me wished I could have packed up my bags and headed off to the airport with them. (Of course, another part of me tried to convince her that hey, wouldn't it be nice to stay in Paris for another few weeks?) Already, I miss her a lot, but I'm glad she came to visit, and that she brought me some peanut butter.
The next few weeks look to be equally busy. Some important schoolwork's coming up, and on November 14-15 I'll be in Charleville, researching Rimbaud with my grant. The weekend after, I'll be visiting a friend in Strasbourg. Hopefully I'll be able to find a few minutes to update now and again!
(Oh, and even though I'm sure everyone reading this is on top of it, just in case: Don't forget to vote on Tuesday!!)
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