Bonding with the Library. A lot.

For the purposes of my summer research projects, I managed to acquire a membership to the Research Library at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF). I have to admit, I feel pretty snazzy, even if it's no great feat in the grander scheme of things.

Oops, well, this will be an interior tour only, I forgot to take a picture from the outside. My bad.

The only way to describe the entry into the research library is by imagining the entry to the headquarters of MIB. I know it sounds crazy, but I swear, that's what it looks like. Mega escalators like these, huge, empty hallways of concrete and steel. It makes it seem like you're going somewhere FAR cooler than you, in fact, are.

From underneath the escalator ...

The research library rooms form a rectangle around a huge courtyard. I don't know if they did it on purpose, but looking down the long sides could practically give you vertigo. I hang out in rooms L, M, and N the most often (they're closest to the books I need on Africa).

This is what the inside of the rooms looks like. Lots and lots of tables. You aren't even allowed into the research part of the library if you haven't reserved a workspace previously. Pretty intense. Oh and I forgot to mention, you're required to give up all of your backpacks and purses at the entrance. They give you a clear plastic briefcase-thing that you put all of your stuff into. I suppose it's to prevent theft?

Anyway, I'm glad to have gotten the experience of working here -- plus my card is valid for a year, so if my MA essay needs some supplemental research ...

Strasbourg (not the métro station, either).

Johan was playing at Geneviève's festival in Obernai, but I had a few hours in between the train to Strasbourg and the train to Obernai ... Time to go exploring! The nice lady at the tourism desk sent me to the "Vieille France" quarter, which she said was very typical of the region. Typical or not, it was adorable.

Lots of canals ...

And pretty buildings!

Oh, hey fairy tale illustration. Wasn't expecting to see you here.

What good is a fairy tale illustration without the, *ahem,* Princess?

The one blight on the landscape is this bubble. This bubble contains the train station. Weirder still, this bubble contains a typical old French, BEAUTIFUL, stone station. WHAT IS UP WITH THE BUBBLE?

Architectural fail.

This is the poolside view from the house we stayed in during our time in Obernai. No big deal.

The family we stayed with was super nice, and I was totally content to spend all day soaking up some sun for  basically the first time this summer.

I still don't have a tan though. Womp womp.

Double your pleasure, double your fun?

I don't have much to say about this. I saw it, and it made me laugh.

I wonder what kind of cases they solve.

Adventures in IKEA, and other short stories.

This was a passage where the second part of my Sciences Po Paris conference was held. I presented some data that wasn't mine, to high acclaim. Hey, I'll take it. Anyway, this looks the way I always pictured Harry Potter's Diagon Alley must look.

DOES AMERICAN IKEA HAVE WINE? DOES IT? I'm actually asking, because I have not been to an American Ikea. BUT THIS IS AWESOME.

I apparently didn't take any pictures that show how pretty Saint Brieuc (or rather, Etables-sur-mer) is except little crappy ones on my French phone.

This was inside a "dive" bar-café near the closest beach ... I thought it was kind of epic, even though I haven't the faintest idea what it's about.

View from the beach (too bad it was WAY too cold for me to consider going in).

Johan and I gave our best shot at the Myspace-style photoshoot. If only it weren't so tiny, this wouldn't be half bad!

 We also went to a really neat restaurant, and it had a flea market-ish shop attached. It's run by "The three sisters." Obviously, I could hardly resist. I got three mint teapots!

For reference, they look like this! (My next craft will be painting this corner unit white.)

Chilling with my BFFLs

I spent a week hanging out with my three best little friends in late June! Of course it took about 0.2 seconds for a certain someone to start rummaging in my purse ...

When I first went to pick Simon up from daycare, he shunned me hardcore. I think someone was a little upset about my [to him, anyway] unceremonious departure. By the time we got home I was [mostly] forgiven.

Julien put me right to work on drawing assignments ... Mario Bros characters again.

Maxime loves the Picsou comic books. I have no idea who Picsou is in English ... Not Donald Duck, is it?

This was a common theme to our days. Hey, I'm the last person to complain about the whole family spending hours reading!

By the end of the week, my smallest BFFL and I were back to being, well, BFFLs. I hope he isn't too mad at me for leaving again ...

Conference in Reims

I headed to Reims for a few days for a conference (Comparative Agendas Project) at the Sciences-Po campus.

Of course, I had to do a little tourism ... Who wants to look at pictures of committee sessions?

Famous Cathedral.

Maryland Bar? Is there some pop cultural reference to Maryland that I'm missing?!

There was even a lights show on the Cathedral the last night. It was especially cool because they showed all the stages of the construction, from the drafting to the [slave?] builders at work, and of course lots of different paintings of it were projected on top.

I think this is from the drafting ...

This just looks cool.

One of the detailed stained glass effects. Since churches were originally painted, this might even be intended as a representation of what it looked like at the time (I don't know enough about this to actually be sure).

On my way out of town, I stopped in a café with a Canadian I met at the conference. Does Ernest Hemingway have a link to Reims, or is this purely marketing?

If my train had been leaving a bit later, I could have gone on the tour of one of the Champagne companies' "caves." The real reason this upsets me is because the parting gift was a BOTTLE OF CHAMPAGNE. Ah well, it gives me a reason to go back?

NYC-Princeton-Airport ... This is belated.

I know this is super behind, but I took all of these pictures darn it, and I want to use them. Oh, hi.

Before I left for Paris, I headed to NYC for the usual sleepover party with one Kelly OC. This was accompanied by a trek to Princeton for a meeting with a professor ... And catching up with Fred, an old friend from ... All the way back to first grade!

Anyway, he gave me the tour of campus (hahaha, Gothic), and I felt compelled to compare this statue to the Nittany lion. You'll see, this becomes a unifying theme of my adventuring. I give it points for scarier-looking teeth, but the Nittany lion is pretty stealthy looking.

After hustling back and forth campus trying to get HR the correct paperwork for dolla dolla bills, I decided it was hot enough to merit a splash. You can't see it here, but there were a couple of really classy girls sunbathing in bikinis. Parallel to the lawn of Old Main drawn here.

Back in Queens, Kelly and I decided it was a perfect night for Astoria Park and CHEESE and ... Surprise, surprise, WINE. Happy Liquor indeed.

I can never remember what number my dad's school was ... So I took a picture, jokingly, and sent it to him. NAILED IT. This was it.

Perfect afternoon for a picnic ...

And even prettier as we get ready to leave!

This is just random, but the fact that this minivan has Consul tags really cracked me up. Minivans aren't exactly the image I'd expect them to be targeting ...

Waiting for Kelly to finish work ... Decided to go read in front of the NY Public Library ...

This lion is pretty stellar. I mean, he looks like he could eat a Nittany lion.

It was a fun few days, as usual. One of my favorite places was a grilled cheese specialty restaurant in Astoria. A RESTAURANT THAT SPECIALIZES IN GRILLED CHEESE. I love having Kelly in the city to find all the things I would like for me :)