two ghettos and a palace

The day has finally comeeeee!! I’m moving into fucking Versailles! Ok, not really, but almost!

Today I picked up the key to my new place (to anyone and everyone who has my address, it is staying the same so don’t worry about having the wrong one!) and it is fucking brilliant…oops haha some of that British/Irish slang is wearing off on me. But seriously. idk how to explain the splendor that I am about to live in any way except by using the word brilliant.

Here is a little history of my nomadic journey through the Résidences Universitaires of Rennes:

1. Sunday August 30th, 2009: Arrived in France, took the train to Rennes, and stayed in a hostel.

2. Monday, August 31st, 2009: My coordinator François picked me up and took me to my first dorm.  It was called Maine I, but it was quickly dubbed “the ghetto” due to the sketchy-ass parking lots where intimidating men would hang out. To make its less than ideal location seem even worse, when you opened the door to ghetto number 1, it was like entering a 1960’s time warp.  Thanks in part to an allergy to mold, I fled this building’s mauve walls and sketchy parking lots on…

3. Monday, November 2nd: The day that I moved from Maine I to Alsace.  Alsace is right next to the University and in a much less sketchy area. It’s right next to the metro as well so I didn’t have to worry about being late as often.  The complex is composed of many buildings- all of which are new or remodeled, except the one in which I was placed. This room was infinitely better, and actually rather spacious compared to my previous accommodations, however I still shared three disgusting toilets (in the US these toilets, which are a trillion times better than what I had in ghetto number 1, would not even be considered real toilets) four showers with 30+ people.  Even worse were the kitchen facilities, which consisted of two hot plates and a microwave, none of which worked regularly. The absolute worst part about ghetto number two, however, was the refrigerator. I shared this mini-fridge, sans freezer, mind you, with 8 filthy people.  There were constantly packages of raw chicken and other indistinguishable forms of meat that had been opened and left exposed to the rest of the items in the fridge, some of which were large cans (tins, to all you British/Irish) that appeared to have been opened with a pair of scissors, or teeth, judging by the jagged edges I had to navigate around while trying to put my milk away. In all honesty, I might even miss ghetto number 2.  When I recieved the notice saying that I would be have to be relocated by January 10th, I didn’t want to move because I had just begun to get settled in my new environment. But on…

By Lucia Holm

4. Thursday February 4th, 2010 (today!): I received the key to my new room so that I can begin to move out. And I can honestly say, now that I’ve seen the freshly remodeled Palace I’m about to move into, fuck that! I’m in heaven!  I’ll add video later (I wish I had some photographic evidence of ghetto number 1, but sadly I do not.) so you can see the gorgeousness of my new place, but in the meantime, here are the perks: ridiculous amounts of storage, colorful!, tables in the communal kitchens, new appliances, MY OWN TOILET, SINK, SHOWER, AND MINI-FRIDGE WITH FREEZER IN MY ROOM, and likely a better internet connection because instead of crappy wireless I’ll be plugged in via ethernet cord.  I’m still shocked and overwhelmed and excited and…!

This is the beginning of a very beautiful four months.  I can feel it!

Anyone in Rennes feel like getting a celebratory drink ce soir?! Wish me luck with the move

xxo bisous

p.s. I postponed my trip to Paris until tomorrow

The New Basterds. Emphasis on the E.

We went to Tarantino’s new film (well, remake) tonight.  Inglourious Basterds.  The theater we went to happened to have French subtitles (shock! Not dubbed!), but we didn’t relax for two and a half hours (in luxury- it was a beautiful independent cinema).  The film is told in three languages: French, German and English.  The French parts obviously didn’t have subtitles, so that took some focus.  But surprisingly harder to understand, were the scenes in German.  There were French subtitles for the German parts but the aggressive acting of the crazed Nazi officials would distract me away from focusing on reading the sous-titres. haha.

I really enjoyed it- I would recommend it to anyone (who can handle watching people being scalped a little gore).

I have a meeting with my coordinator, Francois, tomorrow morning at 8:30; so I better go to bed.

Bonne nuit.

xxo