Life as of lately...

In case you hadn't heard Kristen and I have officially booked our plane ticket abroad AND have reservations for an apartment in Paris. It seems to be coming together quite smoothly so far, thanks to various guide books and online forum posts. We have chose what sounds to be a nice old neighborhood in Le Marais section of Paris. Reviewers say it is well located (being 15 mins east of the Louvre) and is old town Paris. Our other option was staying in Rue Cler as Rick Steves (the guide book author) highly recommends. It is near the Eiffel Tower and a tad bit ritzier. After talking with people who have previously been to Paris we were told it has become over-populated with Rick Steve tourists and is a tad bit more expensive. Seeing as we'd like to feel less like tourists and more like Parisians we have chosen Le Marais. Our apartment is small, but comfortable looking. It's not like we'll be spending much time there anyways! It's made up of a big area with a bed, cute little 2 seater breakfast table and a small kitchen. The only "room" in the studio is the bathroom. I think it will work well for us to be able to bring food home and keep it in the refrigerator to cut down on cost.

Other than that we're still trucking through on our plans, finding hotels for the South of France and getting our International Student cards among many things. If you have any pre-departure tips, do tell before we leave at the end of May :)

In other news, Spring semester is off in full swing. I'm taking four classes: Graphic Design 396, Beginning Ceramics, Sustainable Marketing and Philosophy: Business Ethics. Of course my favorite classes are always my art classes but I try to find my other classes interesting as well.

Sustainable Marketing is all about marketing with the new trendy idea of being "green." It's a very new class, and thus means no textbook yet. We each are to chose our own popular sustainability book and present it to the class. I got very excited to read Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollon to be beat out by another girl in my class. I have decided to read "To buy or not to buy Organic." This is a topic I am very interested in reading as my roommates know me as sort of a food freak. If I could afford it I would buy everything organic.

My philosophy class has been interesting, it's definitely like learning another language when you read Plato and Aristotle but I'm learning to appreciate it.

For my Graphic Design class I am currently working on a cumulative semester project. I have chosen to create a flash (a fancy interactive program) website on Recipes from Around the World. I am collecting recipes from international students at PLU and students who have studied abroad for a good amount of time. In order to have photographs for each recipe, I will have to actually make the food. Therefore, I am focusing on quality and not quantity of recipes. I am hoping to split it up between making some at home with Heather (who is a much better cook than me, I prefer the photographing part) and making it for my roommates or Dustin. Hopefully the food turns out picture worthy or I may just be taking detail shots! I'll keep you all updated on how it turns out!

Lastly my ceramics class is a blast! I LOVE hands on projects so I've really enjoyed this class so far. For our first project I made a cookie jar, a spoon holder for by the stove, a fruit bowl, a vase and my favorite...an elephant teapot! I have an in progress photo I've posted at the top. We're learning how to glaze next and I'll post more pictures in a couple weeks that process is completed. Our next project is to make 8 functional cups and 1 artistic cup. It'll be fun to have cups/mugs in my house that I've made!

That's a wrap...I apologize for writing a novel. If you got this far then you deserve an A :) Hope everyone is doing well!

-Holly