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March 10, 2008
These past couple weeks (an update halfway through spring break)
For spring break, my friends in Paris all wanted to travel the world, but I could only think of one place I wanted to go: home. And home is definitely Oslo. I wasn't sure it was - until I left it. Don't get me wrong: I love Paris, I'm very glad I decided to stay here, and I'm happy. But I think I really needed a week in my own city. And it was a great week. Halfway through, I was annoyed at myself for not staying for longer than a week, but on the other hand, the fact that my time was limited made me very efficient. There are a few people I unfortunately didn't get to see, but for the most part, I think my time was spent in the best way possible. I was never alone, and never bored. I visited most of my favorite places, including Café Sara, Bare Jazz, Åpent Bakeri, Underwater Pub, the university, and many of my friends' apartments. I hosted a party, made a mess in my kitchen, studied in the social studies building, stayed up all night when I shouldn't have (over and over again) - all the things I usually do. The week was like a condensed version of what my life in Oslo is like. And leaving was easier this time - not just because I knew what to expect when I landed in Paris, but because I knew that Oslo and my life there was doing ok without me, and that it will all be there when I get back.
For the next week, I will be more or less alone in Paris, with a lot of deadlines. So there will probably be some blogging. In the meantime, some recommendations:
These past two weeks...
I listened to
- Interpol
- The Arcade Fire
- Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, from the soundtrack to Once
I read
- Time Out of Mind
- Glamour in French, Vogue in English and Costume in Norwegian
- Draped in despair but keeping up appearances and the author's blog, The Thoughtful Dresser
I watched
- Once - Fantastic, not that I'm really able to tell you why. Remember Music and Lyrics? Imagine a realistic version with music you like.
- Atonement - Yes, it's clichéed, but that kind of story always is. And yes, Keira Knightley is just so annoyingly Keira Knightley that she isn't really believable as anyone else. However, the most interesting character in the story is played by three actresses who all do a good job, the music makes everything more interesting, and I want Keira's green dress. So I really, really enjoyed it.
- The first episode of the second Skins season. This season is definitely darker, but I'm looking forward to the rest of it.
- Selected scenes from Funny Face, to remind myself how great Paris is.
Posted by Julie at March 10, 2008 6:52 PM
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Comments
You should have mentioned that you wanted to go to bare jazz! I haven't been there in ages. Let's go when you come back for real?
Posted by: martine at March 11, 2008 12:17 PM