Monday, April 9, 2012

The one where I explain my life in pictures again

My iPhone is kind of like my third arm. I use it for its obvious phoning and texting capabilities and then the plethora of apps, mostly dictionaries. It's actually pretty useful for a translation student that has to take three metros to get to her uni. I will gladly take all negative comments for having one because did you know? Dictionaries are effing heavy! Amazing how a tiny little device can contain enough dictionaries for me to find words in five languages and conjugate tenses with such ease! The other thing I use my phone for is taking pictures, since I can't be bothered to haul around my heavy camera and lenses. It's sad, really, because I love photography. I would love to do it as my career, but photography has had to fall to the wayside as I explore other tracks that may actually pay my bills on a regular basis. So in absence of any new updates besides work, school, writing this long-ass paper, and sleep, I present to you, Rachel's life in iPhone photos in the last month.

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Took a much-needed trip to IKEA and redid my room a little so it's not so cramped. Gone is my comfortable queen-sized bed that took up all my space, replaced with a much-less-comfortable futon that folds up in two seconds. Bed cover most definitely not my choice. I bought it off a colleague recently and, well, you take what you can get for 50€. Added some more storage, a rug, random crap. A little more versatile but let's not forget: I live in a closet.
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Weather finally starting to warm up. Sunsets getting pretty again. I cannot wait for summer.
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Bestie Caro eating her annual pineapple birthday treat at a Korean restaurant. I ordered the spicy Korean barbecue dish even though the waiter kept insisting that it was really very hot. Since French people are big babies their version of spicy is at the same level as mint toothpaste, I was like pssssh. Bring on the spicy. What I was not anticipating was my mouth being on fire. But just to prove to the waiter that I could, in fact, take the ridiculous level of spiciness, I ate it all. My stomach was understandably upset..worth it.
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This is me trying to motivate myself to do well in school so I can eventually be the proud owner of a maroon passport. Obviously since I'm writing a blog instead of doing schoolwork this practice is not working as well as expected.
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Never get sick of it.
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Found while walking around..Iowa represent!

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Helping my friend, Duncan, find an apartment in Paris. Ahh! I am so lucky my apartment basically fell into my lap. It is a battlefield out there! He finally signed on one last week, though. I think I'll just stay here in my cozy closet for the foreseeable future.
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Salon du Livre: basically a giant expo of all the publishers in France, big and small. Like a giant bookstore, but there are also author signings, readings, workshops, etc. I had a free pass thanks to my translation program. It was cool to see so many books but a bit overwhelming. Not to mention the gobs and gobs and gobs of people.
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My favorite store recently got the infamous Dutch chocolate sprinkles. Say no more.
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New sunglasses! On a little walk around the city on a beautiful day..
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Waiting for the metro at Gare d'Austerlitz
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Nothing like fun like the past subjunctive of French!
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Study food. Also, a heart attack.
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See the wee little Sacre Coeur behind the chimneys?
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Sushi before...
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Sushi after.
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Eating lunch in front of the Centre Pompidou
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Taken to show my brother how gas stations are in Paris. Yes, that is one pump, yes that is right in the middle of the city. Yes, owning a car will make you broke in Paris. Last time I checked gas was over $8 a gallon (it's sold in liters).
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Pretty.
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Nishad from London was in town, had a bite to eat.

And last but not least, my friend, Malia, aka The Great Dane, left me last month. She's just arrived in Hawaii and I know she's living the life, but it's a little more sad, a little more quiet, a little less fun around here. On her last day before going to the airport, a few of us got together to wish her a classy, Parisian goodbye.
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Lunch at an abandoned bus stop..I did say we were classy.
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Savner dig, kælling.

/R