Carine Brancowitz

Today, I discovered Carine Brancowitz's artwork on another blog, The Clothes Horse.  I liked her illustrations so much that I had to share my favorites on my blog as well...many are situated in Paris. For instance, the Place de la Concorde metro stop, of which I really love the design:

"My life, my lover, my lady is the sea"

So, I just got finished with my 2 week vacation (les vacances scolaires) with my friend Anna. She came all the way from America to travel with me here in Europe. Our first stop was in Marseilles, France for 3 days. I must say that Marseilles was really unlike any other place in France in both good and bad ways. Knowing that Marseilles is competing with Lyon as the second largest city in France, I assumed there would be a lot going on in terms of nightlife. Yet, the city went to sleep fairly early. I also assumed there would be a lot of tourism, because it's the south of France, on the sea, yadayadayada. To my surprise I learned that this wasn't really true.  In fact, the family we stayed with said that there wasn't much tourism and many French people don't even like Marseilles because, well, it doesn't feel French. The family also told us that it is a very blue-collar town. Again, a surprise! I expected it to be ritzy and glamorous. 

Yet my expectations were not based on much knowledge. Previous to my trip, my idea of Marseilles was limited to The Count of Monte Cristo. (It was our Senior year assisgned summer reading. I liked it so much, I read the unabridged version inmy free time).

 Therefore, I knew of le Vieux Port (the old port). Yep! Saw that.

 And I knew of Chateau d'If where Edmund was imprisoned in the novel.Yep! Saw that one too.

 Actually, it was first a fortress, then a prison for religious and political detainees  (many French Protestants were sent there to die). On that note, here are Anna and I (two Protestants) smiling ear to ear in front of it.

Other than the knowledge from Count of Monte Cristo, I knew of Marseilles from products. Firstly, the soap. Marseilles is known all over the world for their soaps.Yep, saw that and bought some! I actually couldn't get enough of it. If I were able to carry it all on the airplane, I probably would've filled up a suitcase with it.

"I'll fly away oh Lord, I'll fly away"

After living in France for 7 months without a trip back to the US, I booked my ticket home for May 4th and it got me to thinkin' that I should blog about my love of airports.

Many people will disagree with me on this sentiment, especially those recently forced to lodge in terminals due to the Icelandic volcanic ash, but I have always had a love of going to the airport because of the excitement, the butterflies I get in my tummy. I usually can't sleep the night before because I am so excited and packing my bags.

Of course, I do have my horrific experiences at the airport: Cut to the scene where I missed my flight from Paris to Munich and shamelessy balled my eyes out for everyone to see and woke up my parents at 5am central time venting my griefs.

 ...And I don't exactly enjoy being on the plane: the smells, the claustrophobia, the weird people sitting next to you.

...but I love everything leading up to getting on the plane.

 When I am at the airport, I feel so, well, cool? Forgive me for using such an anti-climactic, silly term, but the fact that I am even putting words to this confession is embarrassing.Walking through the airport,  I have so much excitement and imagine that other people are thinking, "Ooohhh, where's she off to?" Of course, people do not think this, but I continue to entertain this egocentric view.

My best experiences at airports thus far:

1. On our way home after a family trip in Sanibel Island, my parents come back after talking to the airlines at Ft. Lauderdale airport to tell us that we are re-routing and staying another week in Ft. Lauderdale! 
2. My first plane ride alone at 10 years old to visit my best friend Celeste in Ft. Myers 
3. Going on a father/daughter trip to Chicago, arriving at Nashville airport only to find our flight was delayed. Instead of waiting for the delayed flight, my father came back to tell us that we were going on the next flight to NYC instead (pre-911 restrictions).
4. Volunteering to be the next day-flyer at Charles de Gaulle airport due to an overbooked flight. As a gift from United Airlines, I was put in a 5 star hotel that night with free meals, and flew 1st class the next day. First class should be called "kick ass." 
5. When moving to France, I was worried about how to get on a train from Paris to my little town with all my baggage and lack of knowledge. On my flight over to Paris, I sat next to a lovely French old lady who was going the same place I was. She took care of everything for me!

The South of France

Life is so funny, isn't it? It seems you make plans to break them. I had a perfectly planned out two week vacation with Anna, my friend visiting France from the USA. Well, a little something called THE STRIKES of the train conductors stopped that. Oh France, and the crazy strikes that screw up everyone's schedule. So, we were stranded, at the train station, no way back to my little town. Yet in the end, it turned out better than I had planned it. We stayed with an English teacher and had a comfortable bed instead of sleeping on an overnight train and me having a panic attack because of claustrophobia. Then, we were re-routed to Paris the next day, and I got to store my HUGE bag that Anna is going to take back with her to the USA for me (the airlines have reduced their baggage policy). We will pick it up after Nice when we go to Paris.

We finally arrived in Marseilles and stayed with an American family that has been living in France for 18 years. So, I am jealous of their children who speak two languages. The kids seem American with the accent and all that, but really they are French and have spent their whole life in Marseilles. Their American parents even discussed how weird it is when they have cultural conflicts with their children. Anyway, the father ended up going to the SAME high school as me. Go Eagles! It's such a small world. Also, on the train from Sarrebourg, there were four Americans, one of them being a Nashvillian and all of them going to college in Kentucky. Yes, in fact, "it's a small world after all." As my father said, "Disney was right."

M's Final Week

So this is my roommate's last week before she returns to Germany. Today was our final "trip" together, as we went to the neighboring town of Lunéville to visit a fellow colleague. This photo was taken in the "Jardins des Bosquets" next to the Château de Lunéville.

And because I have been jumping on the fashion blogger-bandwagon (conformism--a dictator's dream!) by posting outfit pictures, I will show you these fabulously goofy pictures of me in my pretty new outfit.  

[shirt= H and M; skirt=Zara; Boots=Andre; Earrings=Pangaea in Nashville, TN; scarf=Urban Outfitters; leggings and white jacket=Forever 21]

But then I will steer back to my original topic: the end of our time in France as language assistants.  Yesterday, my roommate heard me blabbing about things that I have missed from the USA. They go as follows:

My roommate then responded, "I think we are spoiled that we can't even go one day without stores being open." "Good Point," I said, which then made me realize that's what I like about France--less stress, less working hours, more relaxation. Then she asked, "Well, what do you think you will miss about France?"  I will be better equipped to answer that question after I return to the USA and experience reverse culture shock. However, I will attempt to answer it ahead of time:

I just realized the above image is hard to read. I will clarify number 5: "Being 45 minutes away by train from 3 great cities" and number 7: "Being within two hours of 3 countries." HOT-DIGGIDY-DAWG! Ain't that great for a girl whose blog is titled "Passport Smiles" ? I can answer that for you and say, "HESS YESS! It has been wonderful living in France!"

P.S.= I realize that most of the things I like/miss can be summed up as people, food, drink and shopping. Yes, I really am that simple (nice way to say boring).

So, Gwyneth Paltrow Loves Nashville

The media has largely mocked Gwyneth Paltrow's blog GOOP and labeled it as "an unprecedented example of celebrity hubris" (The Independent).  GOOP-hating even reached Gossip Girl cultural-allusion status when Blair Waldorf said, "At least GOOP was good for something."  Nevertheless, today, I am applauding her blog, because Gwyneth has decided to write about how much she loves my hometown Nashville. Gwyneth-Hater or not,  it was pretty cool that Nashville got a shout-out and is the first "small" city added to her "GO" list of world-famous cities like NYC, London and LA.




Of Nashville, she writes,

 "Never have I met such warm people, heard such good music, eaten so much fried chicken...I could go on and on. This week’s letter will cover the music/food and next week's will cover the rest. It's pretty easy to get to if you live in the good ol’ US of A as it’s kind of smack dab in the middle (well, not really, but almost) and is so worth a trip. It's pretty damn great."

In her two part series, Gwyneth and I agree on some of our favorite Nashvillian places, and I would like to share them. They go as follows:

1) The Ryman Auditorium:

First built as a church, then later used to be the Grand 'Ole Opry and for Johnny Cash's television show, the acoustics are amazing and it's a great place to see concerts. There I have seen Wilco, Belle and Sebastian, Sufjan Stevens, Kings of Leon, and Fiona Apple to name a few.

2) Frothy Monkey Coffee:

Yummy place for coffee and a light lunch or snack. A good meeting place for a one-on-one. Try the Monkey Mocha.

Joyeuses Pâques!

Happy Easter! My memories of Easter are vast. I have very good ones associated with Easter egg hunts where I felt rich if I found an egg with $1 inside. I also have not-so-good memories of wearing itchy tights, hats and Nanny's hand-made, smock dresses for church on Easter Sunday. Afterward, we would go to Centennial Park (in Nashville, TN) and take pictures with all the red and yellow tulips. The rest of the memories are associated with baskets full of delicious Reese's eggs and MAC gift cards and spending time lounging with the fam. Enjoy these Easter-ish, pastel-y photos.

Credits: Galexie Andrews, Tec Petaja, Acido, Fifi Lapin, Wendy Bevan, The Cherry Blossom Girl. The rest found on Tumblr or FFFFound.