63. Proudness!

ooooooo, have i got pride to my toes!! i got a 16,50 on a maths spé. test!! it's hard to describe the feeling but i have to reinforce once again that going abroad brings such benefits in building one's character that you can find no way else.

tomorrow, i'm going to Paris with the girls & i'm really excited!!! i'm going to do Laser Quest for the first time in my life & i have to make sure to remember to wear black. apparently, it's more fun that way. i'll let you know how that goes...

i had pistachio pudding for dessert tonight :)

i'm looking at universities now & there's one at home that i really really really want to get into. really.

oh! oh! oh! i found this blog, following my own advice & i laughed & laughed & laughed. too. great. i think perhaps cause he (Steve) has the same humour as i do...here are my two favourite posts:

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DOCTORS WILL KILL YOU
Sometimes I wonder if doctors actually remember that "First, do no harm" thing.

Pollen season in North Carolina was especially nasty this year, so I managed to get a nasty sinus infection. I was pumping the nasal spray and gulping the Benadryl. Concurrently, I noticed that it started burning when I peed. I made an appointment with my urologist and he told me that the burning was likely caused by the decongestants, and oh, by the way, I also had a mild prostate infection. Lovely. He did the KY Jelly and bend over the table thing, prescribed an antibiotic, told me to lay off the Benadryl, and sent me on my way.

Without the Benadryl, the sinus infection soon became pure misery, so I made an appointment with an ENT. After sitting in a waiting room full of crying three year old snot factories, the ENT poked around in my nose and sent me for a CT scan. We looked at the results (there's something disconcerting about looking at your own head turned inside-out) and he showed me that the sinus cavity behind my eyeballs was full of gray glop. In all actuality, the glop was probably more of a green color, but the CT is in gray-scale, but I digress.

I informed the ENT that I was on Cipro for the prostate infection, but the ENT allowed that it was probably not the best one for treating a sinus infection. He prescribed another polysillabic antibiotic and a steroid and sent me on my way.

Near the end of the course of antibiotics, I noticed that I was frequenting the bathroom more often than usual. I then remembered that antibiotics will mess with the beneficial bacteria in your colon, causing you to have a case of the trots. Nothing serious, but the bad news is that multiple antibiotics can cause you to develop such interesting conditions as diverticulitis, PMC, and something awful called toxic megacolon (which sounds like a professional wrestler's name). The inside-out head thing pales in comparison to standing up after a nasty bout with diarrhea and seeing a toilet bowl that looks like someone was killing hogs in it.

The web is a wonderful, wonderful place. After calming down from thoughts of rectal cancer and spending the rest of my life with a colostomy bag, I poked around WebMD and the Mayo Clinic sites. Their advice was to eat some yogurt and by all means stay away from the Immodium. You see, diarrhea is your body's way of expelling the little nasties that have collected in your gut. Stopping the diarrhea will interfere with the natural course of things. As an added bonus, I really like yogurt a lot. I guess if I'm still running to the bathroom every fifteen minutes to crap blood, I'll make an appointment with a doctor, but my sane side tells me that might be a mistake. You know, current events and all.

The unkindest cut of all?

I still have the sinus infection.

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WTF RECURSION
I occasionally like to cruise around the bizarre side of the web. Sites like Explain This Image, and Motivated Photos and even jj.am (the lulz, not the girls, goober). So after a while visiting failblog.org and engrish, I figured that surely there must be something funny at wtf.org...

WTF? I mean seriously...

WTF?!
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oh ho ho...too funny...

[bt]

62.*sigh & major cry*

but you can't really expect people to understand right away & we should be happy that we are the ones that know him enough to know him that well. i worry about him too...people aren't necessarily judgemental; they're just unexposed.

*bou

61. Seul au Monde

if you ever feel like you're alone, click on the "next blog" link above & be prepared to find out that there exists a whole world out there of differences. beautiful differences that can really open you mind to the newest of things, things that you've never thought about. i think it's fantastic and incredible that within a minute, you can read the very personal thoughts & passions of ten different people. for me, at least, it reminds me to steer away from the "me! me! me! mentality".

the best part? it's at random. :)

[bt]

60. & H1N1 takes one more...

a girl from my grade died from the grippe A this week & the school hasn't said a thing. not only are they not closing the school, but there is no commemoration nor acknowledgement of her death whatsoever...what does that mean?

[bt]

59. Is it possible to eat too may prunes?

-is it ever! i think i'm immune to their effects...
-school, marks, university, studying, exams, WORK, etc. are making me feel like SEE-ARE-A-PEE
-going to starbucks makes me unbearably nostalgic; it sucks, it sucks, it sucks
-school is sucking the happiness out of me & i need someone to remind me again why i actually came to france. they tell you adapt & to feel at home, which took me about a day cause i'm adaptable. they don't tell you to be careful that if you feel too at home, the value of the experience diminishes exponentially. darn me. i truly believe i'm too well integrated, the operative word being "too".
-my brain hurts & the BAC makes me feel stuck cause i've already registered.
-ignore me cause i'm being overly depressing...
-but thanks for reading anyway.
-i love snow; why isn't is snowing by now??? right, i'm in a different country...

[bt]

58. Philo

my teacher uttered this today:
"love may be one sided but friendship is always two", which makes me think of my sister :(

-raisin bread made me think of my brother
-calling to talk to my mom to find out she won't be home for a few days makes me think of mom
-talking about my chinese background makes me think of my grampies
-quality, deep writing makes me think of Goldie
-my mug makes me think of "me too" :P

[bt]

57. Treading Water

you know, i can't seem to find any expression in the english language that describes what i feel my situation is better that "treading water" & i'm glad at least some expression does exists so that i can express myself with words...

it's an awfully humbling experience to be in a foreign country where you literally have to build your identity from scratch. no one, & i mean NO ONE knows who you are so technically speaking, you could make a different "you" but me, i'm too lazy to pretend as i'm more "go with the flow". anyway, my point is that anything that you may be good at or known for or, as a matter of fact proud of; everything that made you, you is erased & therefore, at times, it can get frustrating when you see the look in people's eyes & you know that they're more or less indifferent of you when all you want to do is scream that you're not some dull foreigner but rather, you had a life, a "past", if you wish that you left behind but nonetheless existed.

it's not that you're treated badly but you're not treated goodly either, at least in the beginning stages of your relationship with someone, which, when you're in a foreign country, there are a lot of (meeting new people, that is). you constantly have to explain yourself & present yourself & the short attention span that people have now adays doesn't quite give you enough time to say all that you may want to say to make a statement & say "yes, i'm a real person, just like you" & yet it's completely realistic for them to be more or less indifferent cause why would they want to know who you are as they have friends to spend time with & a foreigner may become a burden, who knows?

so the point is: it's tough, which is why i recommended to pretty much everyone to go a year abroad, but i'll put my stamp on that statement when the year is done.

ANYWAY, it all leads me to say that today, i found out today that i'm a below-average student. quelle horreur! not exactly a surprise but i'm trying to make the point that whatever you're good at means nothing in a foreign country until you prove yourself good & put yourself out there, which isn't as easy in a foreign language.

you know the one thing i miss most? humour. it's like the most important part of being happy but really, impossible in a foreign language. jokes, what jokes?

WOOOT, I'M OFFICIALLY REGISTERED FOR THE FRENCH BACCALAUREATE§!!! & today is the first, i repeat FIRST day that i don't have homework. how sad is that?

BIRTHDAY SHOUT-OUTS...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY McB!!!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY "me too"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*major hugs*

[bt]

p.s.french classes with the Premières...aye aye ayyyye...SO. BORING.

56. Hygiene is Important.

we're going point form again today...

-my real siblings recently paid a visit to the dentist & they have cavities. I SWEAR I AM GOING TO GO CRAZY IF SOMEONE DOESN'T SEND ME SOME FLOSS. i don't know...apparently they don't floss here cause it costs five bucks a metre, which is why (permission to laugh) i've taken to rolling strings of cotton using cotton balls to get the nastiness out of me teeth in times of desparity. & i'll have you know, it's not easy rolling cotton fine enough to fit between teeth & thick enough to not break before you can force it between your teeth. i dare you to try.

-i don't know how to shave cause i've always waxed & since i got here, i hadn't waxed until i went to buy some last week so gym class on thursdays haven't exactly been fashion show quality on my part, if you know what i mean... anyway, so in case you don't know, warm wax is fabulous & gives professional, long-lasting results but it's messy, dangerous & you have to get up to microwave & stir every 20 min. therefore, it takes forever & if you use cloth strips, you have to wash them & dry them. so, in front of the countless grocery store options, i opted for cold wax, against by better judgement, of course. i knew in my head that it was probably not the greatest idea to try something new in a foreign country but i told myself that i'm nearly an adult & i feel enough at home here to take a risk, shall we say...anyway, i've learned that cold wax is easy, efficient & you just have to roll up your pants rather than spend at least an hour in your underwear so that you can scrub yourself red in the shower afterwards BUT in my opinion, it's more like a painful shave more than anything else, as in doesn't pull from the roots

-i had a huge urge for dried apples, which are extremely rare & extremely expensive so i bought prunes instead. however, i didn't realize that i bought the fast-acting kind until...

-wooot!! dance is on for tomorrow!!! no school for tomorrow!!!

-as of last week, i don't have international courses anymore, which means that tuesdays, i get to sleep in until 9:30. yes, you read right. mais, c'est fou! today, i slept 'til 9:30 & may i say that it's not really that enjoyable? it messes with my brain & i get tricked into thinking that it's a weekend day but i still have to go to school. it's worse than just going to school.

-i had that nightmare AGAIN. that's FOUR.

-the baby is doing good & is home with his mom as of today :)

-i got my first 9/10, which is more like a 95 percent today!!

-this country is making me gain weight like crazy!

-amours (as in plural of amour) is féminin au lieu de masculin comme amour

glad to have my sense of humour back,

[bt]

55. Bébé Arrivé!

today, a baby is born
tomorrow, we're driving 5h to go and see the little wrinkle of a thing
the day after, we're driving back so that
the day after that, i can go back to school

may i repeat once more that weekends here are too short?

anyway...quoi de neuf?

yesterday was the first day back to school after the holidays, which i'm glad of cause i feel like i'm always at my desk, cooped up in my room working, which isn't totally true cause i did spent a day sur Paris & i spent a few days in Lorraine. but i guess what i mean is that anytime i'm home, i'm at my desk. because i like my desk; it's my very first & it makes me feel organized but truth be told, i probably spend more time organizing than working...

i really enjoy science & i'm grateful that my host family chose to put me in section S. since i'm in maths spécialité, i get super hours of math. plus i love chem, & physics & biology & philo & gym, in which we're doing badminton. we do a continuous tournament on seven courts & it's the "loser goes down, winner goes up" deal & there are seven courts & i'm very proud to say that i'm the first girl to make it to court 2. :D usually, i dwadle between 4 and 3 cause i'm really really really uncomfortable about beating guys. i just can't stand the look on the faces when they've realized they've been beaten by a girl & they have to take a walk of shame down the ladder. however, since it was the last class before the évaluation, i decided to m'impliquer & you know what? it feel freaking great to win against boys. :P

so yeah...oh & because of the holidays, i don't have dance, which sucks & next week, wednesday lands on nov. 11 (veteran holiday = jour férié) so the building will probably be closed too but my dance teacher is trying to make it happen; (please please please please please!!!!!) so as well, next wednesday, i don't have school. yippeeeeee, since wednesdays are 4h-evaluation days. (boooooooooo!!!)

ALSO, next thursday, i get physics in the morn (yippeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!) then at noon, we're leaving to go on a field trip to see various foeti (lol, foetuses?) floating in fermaldahyde or whatever other liquid? aqueous? chemical preservative there is out there. they're going to be nasty, bald, wrinkly, eyeballs buldging behind not-fully-developed eyelids, light pink, transparent & curled up like little aliens (for the vertebrates, at least). they gross me out but i'm soo excited!!

& voilà!

bisoussss

[bt]