Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Feb 4, 2012, 3:38 am
I finally got my schedule for classes starting Monday. We students could choose between two disciplines: literature and human sciences or economy and politics. For a break from my normal life, I chose the latter! I would like to remind the council that I have no background in economy and have taken ...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 28, 2012, 7:11 pm
The absolute worst thing about my stay in france this year? The toilet is downstairs in the coldest scariest hallway. not even on my floor. grrrholdingitinbrrrrr
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 28, 2012, 6:54 pm
Less than a month to Valentine's Day!! You heard me right. This feminist, liberal, anti-corporate girl loves the hell out of Valentine's Day. And this should not come as a shock to anyone who knows me. I love love. And if V-Day gives lots of people the inspiration to celebrate that, I'm in. Point f...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 23, 2012, 4:03 pm
Officially a healthy-eating grown-up. three principal ingredients in my cereal: anise, ginger, and...wait for it, cilantro. Or coriander for you brits. Whatever way you cut it, that's a veggie. And no sugar added. Oh, how I miss Cookie Crisp sometimes. I smelled up my hallway in the best way possib...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 22, 2012, 3:12 am
Woke up again today before my alarm. It feels nice not to be so tired all the time. The cleanse is going well and I think I have successfully hit all three goals: clean, rest, and balance. And as an extra bonus, in the last few days I've been feeling really in tune with my body. I know how hippie th...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 20, 2012, 1:17 pm
Feeling damn good, even though my brain is trying to convince me I need sugar. No more headaches, but I did have a dream about cake. American cake, frosting and all. Currently eating quinoa and feeling like OMG WHY DID I NOT KNOW HOW FREAKING DELICIOUS THIS FOOD WAS sooner.
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 17, 2012, 3:11 am
Felt headachey and sleepy last night, though couldn't tell if those were from lack of sugar or cause I'm still recovering from état grippaux this weekend. This morning I don't feel hungry at all and woke up really energized! Today is my longest day at school so I will have to bring plenty of deto...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 15, 2012, 3:08 pm
Right, birds can fly so high or they can shit on your head, yeah they can almost fly into your eye and make you feel well scared, but when you look at them, and you see that they're beautiful - that's how I feel about you.
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 14, 2012, 3:57 pm
So I'm sick for the 6th time since I've come to France. It's pretty wonderful. You know, I get to be laid up in bed on a beautiful Saturday night in a hopping university town, chugging cough syrup and spraying solution up my nose (note to self: do the spray first - it's disgusting!) while I tear thr...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 8, 2012, 9:07 am
Booooks!!!! SCORED: -hard-bound complitation of photos of Caen taken thirty years ago -anthology of poems from the Rochefort school (of which Rene Guy Cadou is a member - some of you may recall a very bad tattoo idea that had to do with a poem of his) -anthology of popular French poems (which proba...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Jan 2, 2012, 4:56 pm
It's a New Year! Which means everyone is busy at the gym or registering for Mint.com, or doing whatever else they gotta do to get those resolutions moving. I set myself some goals when I came to France three months ago, so I'll be working on those throughout the year. Let's see how I'm doing. 1. Ge...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Dec 24, 2011, 4:23 am
-hopped on the ferry to Portsmouth with a bookbag for me and a bag of presents for the family hosting me. the bottle of wine takes priority over another set of clothes for me, right? -got headache, faceplanted into plushy seat, and napped for really not long enough. -was welcomed to England by a gr...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Dec 17, 2011, 4:47 am
The last few days have been Christmas on lock. -Home Alone plays on YouTube while I make crafty presents in my kitchen. -My voice laces the beads of water under the shower. I'm singing The Drifters' version of "White Christmas." -I buy all of my families' presents on Amazon this year so they will a...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Dec 13, 2011, 2:15 pm
So it's Christmas time and I've let myself get a little depressed. Homesick to the 100th power. Haven't got a tree yet, haven't listened to any music yet, STILL haven't started my craft presents. But you know, life is still good. I spent the weekend in Brittany with dear friends of mine and the new ...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Dec 8, 2011, 7:07 am
So I had to go to the doctor and get a prescription. My appointment was at 19h15. Me being me, I got lost on the way. For about an hour, I walked around Calvaire Saint Pierre, which happens to be the same neighborhood I work in, and still I couldn't find it. Man, am I nulle at orientation. In the s...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Nov 25, 2011, 8:39 am
Did you ever meet someone and after just a few hours you had this feeling that you could have a super strong friendship with her? That's how I felt after I met Sara. We took the same flight here to France, and we ended up sitting not far from each other on the flight. We had lots of time to chat whe...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Nov 1, 2011, 9:15 am
... with Americans, Halloween party in Saint Contest Saturday, American-themed dinner in Caen Sunday. And to top it all off a comfy Halloween night chez moi watching Sweeney Todd and skyping mon cheri as he got ready to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. And today is November, All Saints Day. I...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 28, 2011, 4:43 pm
(in no particular order) -bought three sweaters for 5 euro at the friday market -gave a mean produce vendor a dirty look and bought all my produce from the vendor directly opposite her* -received postcards from donna and rach! -bought 30 euro winter coat instead of 60 euro winter coat -bought 20 eur...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 26, 2011, 2:01 pm
Last night, rendez vous USA, or, as Whitney called it, Operation confuse the hell out of the french by carving into pumpkins. This is one American tradition that did not carry over to France. So we brought it! Mine's the baby, and Preston's not looking too good. Too many tiny wines and chocobons may...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 24, 2011, 8:37 am
Did you ever have one of those days that just will not stop getting better? That was yesterday for me. In the order of which they appear, my Sunday in awesome: First little bit of awesome: Sunday market. There's an open-air market just about every day here, but Sunday is the biggest one. Walking pa...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 21, 2011, 5:06 pm
Sitting at Le Lounge Cafe with some dear friends of mine, chatting in franglais and drinking my chocolat chaud, and a freaking hummer drives by. The kicker? It had a french license plate. Discuss.
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 21, 2011, 7:38 am
Toussaints was on all the professors' minds yesterday, my last day of classes before the break. No work until November 3rd for me. I might be traveling with one of my floormates next week. Class update: things have been going lovely at my school. Everyone has been incredibly welcoming, teachers and...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 15, 2011, 6:32 pm
I'm happy as this day was long. You may have noticed I don't blog nearly as much this trip as I did last time. That is because I am crazy super busy all the time in the best way. Living in Caen is awesome. Always a new assistante de langue to meet. I must have met 30 already and that's not even half...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 9, 2011, 4:47 pm
When else in my life am I going to have the chance to really focus on self-improvement? Let's face it, in the USA I never have time to create and reach goals for myself. Here, I work 12 hours a week, giving me plenty of time to travel, read, write, do whatever the heck I want, really. So, I present ...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 8, 2011, 7:03 am
Lavender. Chocolate. I'd post a picture but seems my camera has stopped working.
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 7, 2011, 4:12 am
Talking to T last night, I said I've been here almost a full two weeks, and he said that means I'm 1/16th done. When you put it that way, it doesn't seem long at all! 8 months sounds forever to me, but 16 biweeks sounds like it's going to fly by! I'm already anxious to be back home and see everyone...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Oct 6, 2011, 5:30 pm
This is the story of how I almost came to live in a convent for a year. Since the lease was postponed, I started looking at other housing options, you know, just in case it didn't work out. I couldn't stay on Nath or C's couches forever after all. I'd been in France over a week and still hadn't unp...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Sep 30, 2011, 11:47 am
All this week I kept saying, I'm too lucky. Something bad has to happen. So I went and lost track of my cell phone for 20 minutes and it was stolen. And my lease was delayed a week, meaning I can't move in tomorrow as was the plan. Now I have to wait until Thursday. Hmm.
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Sep 29, 2011, 4:55 am
It's late Thursday morning here, and I'm wearing a big smile because this afternoon I go to sign my lease. I can't believe how lucky I am. A super cheap apartment in a nice neighborhood. Very calm, just families and senior citizens, mostly. I met my roommates and landlord yesterday when I went to he...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Sep 27, 2011, 4:56 pm
Nathalie says I have a lucky star, and she is so right. I don't know what I have been smoking lately, but I have been doing really stupid things. And ... and run down the street to go get it back, just don't ever ever leave your wallet with ALL your money and id and important numbers in the bar/tab...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Sep 26, 2011, 5:20 pm
This entry was written from the plane to Paris on the day I left for an eight month work contract. Woke up happysad today. Long road ahead. Dressed, printed directions and booking, hugged Alex goodbye. Packed the car. Drove to my parents, installed Skype, advised them to get a webcam so I can see th...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Sep 20, 2011, 9:46 am
Or, Bon Voyage, but the cake they bought me for my last day of work said "Bon Jour" by mistake. Leaving in 4 days. Feel rushed. My awesome friends threw me a going away party on Saturday. Highlights: -The house decorated in yellow, including the balloon stringed to the handle of my car door -Emily...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Sep 12, 2011, 3:29 pm
Tomorrow I get a Visa. September 24th I leave for France. I do not have a return ticket. Three years ago I did this. I got on a plane and moved to France for seven months. I left my loved ones for a country I knew next to nothing about, a language I had taken for a year and a half, and a shitty pay...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - May 6, 2011, 11:48 am
On Wednesdays we craft. CK, Alex, and me. This week we were lucky to have the company of talented graphist (yep, that's a word now) MN! Alex painted: CK sketched the crowd: MN gave us a ghostly forest: And I put a bird on it: Thanks for the pastels CK! Alex made some progress last night. Isi...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - May 1, 2011, 11:37 pm
So, I met my National Poetry Month goal at just about the same moment I found out Osama Bin Laden is dead. Weird. This isn't the first NaPoMo that I have completed, but it is the first I feel really confident about. The photos were an awesome inspiration. Congrats, too, to fellow NaPoMoers Rach, Do...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - May 1, 2011, 11:15 pm
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: A world without plastic No tupperware to hold our leftover rice, no red solo cup to drink our beer from at parties, to eat our cereal from when our bowls our spoons are stacked dirty in the sink. Without plastic, the snap of a new DVD case doesn’t send your memor...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - May 1, 2011, 10:27 pm
La Grasse matinee* Jacques Prévert from Paroles French version here It’s terrible the small sound of a hard egg broken on a pewter countertop it’s terrible this noise when it stirs the memory of the man who is hungry it is also terrible, the head of this man the head of this man who is hungry w...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - May 1, 2011, 10:25 pm
Pater Noster Jacques Prévert from Paroles French version here Our father who art in heaven Stay there And we’ll stay here on earth Which is sometimes so pretty With its mysteries of New York And then its mysteries of Paris Which are well worth those of the trinity With its small Ourcq canal Its ...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 28, 2011, 10:24 am
L’accent grave* Jacques Prévert from Paroles French version here The teacher Hamlet! Hamlet (jumping up) Huh…what…sorry…what happened…what is it…what’s up?... The teacher (annoyed) Can’t you say “present” like everyone else? It’s not possible, you are still in the clouds. Haml...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 28, 2011, 10:13 am
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: Prompt courtesy Rach: Write a poem about prom night: While the seniors dance at Prom Night in Some Small Town, Middle America--a town of about 3,000—a tornado hits the town, destroying about a third of it. When the kids emerge from the dance, they discover what's ha...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 27, 2011, 10:52 pm
I've seen several Jacques Prévert from Paroles French version here I saw one who was sitting on the hat of another he was pale he trembled he was waiting for something…doesn’t matter what the war…the end of the world… it was absolutely impossible for him to make a move or talk and the other...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 26, 2011, 9:45 pm
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: Central At the center of the frame a man, taller than most, holds hands with a short woman, and in his palm stands a miniature man in a suit. At the center of a café at the center of a small town the man in the palm thinks he is the center of everyone’s world. B...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 26, 2011, 9:41 pm
The beautiful season Jacques Prévert from Paroles French version here Hungry* lost frozen All alone without a dime A sixteen year old girl Standing still Place de la Concorde At noon the fifteenth of August *Hungry is not really the right word here, but it's the closest thing we have in English to ...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 26, 2011, 9:47 am
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: Souvenir We walk on the beach. The moon is shedding orange light on the waves, in our pupils, across the hulking clutch of the ferris wheel. You tell me the science behind the harvest. We are dressed in tangerine. The moments only happen once. I know because I ...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 25, 2011, 12:22 pm
I'm rocking the poem a day challenge. I can feel it. My voice has really come into its own. I wish I could say the same for the translation a day challenge. But the more I try to translate poems, the more I realize I really can't at my level. The best I can promise is that I'll give you a general se...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 25, 2011, 9:26 am
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: Another personal one. Not ready to share the whole thing, but here's an excerpt. Happy Easter! Lady, there’s a lion in your lap You and I know he is always going to go for the feather in your hat. Paws will dirty your skirts. You can keep this lion, lady, but not...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 25, 2011, 9:15 am
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: April: thinking of rain after Jane Kenyon First, the slick drop on my window, the mist through the screen. I remember we had a bird in a cage. My brother and I would set it outside as we ran around the yard. Grass crunched, flowers bloomed. Sometimes he would chase ...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 25, 2011, 9:14 am
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: Nude woman talks to a skeleton Skeleton you are my friend. Look what you have achieved. Shed muscle and sinew, cartilage and skin, until you’ve only curves of rib, jaw, spine. You did it skeleton, but you are rusted now, because it is raining and because you...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 21, 2011, 4:14 pm
Clouds Jacques Prévert from La pluie et le beau temps French version here I went to get my wool from a young goat and it followed me the gray he is wary not like the older one he is still too small She was teeny tiny too but something inside her already felt old like the world Already she knew of...
Comment - Like

Ashley A. posted an article on Mina v.3.0 - Apr 21, 2011, 2:28 pm
Photo from Black & WTF Photos: Prompt: List 10 facts that make today seem different than any other day. Craft these facts into a poem. The common thread between the facts is the title. Creation A friend paints sea creatures for a nursery at my dining room table. Pressed against muscle and bone, th...
Comment - Like