Catching up and sand animation...

Yes, it's been MONTHS since my last post. No, I have not stopped writing here. I've just been a bit busy.

Since May, this is what I've done: graduated from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University with a M.S. degree (didn't do the cap and gown, though--not my thing), left New York, drove up and down the California coast with a lovely, young Frenchman, got my visa to study in France (not as simple as one might think), saw my sister graduate from her master's program at UC Irvine, went back to Hawaii for four days, flew to China and chaperoned a group of teenagers in and about the country, took a few days for myself in Beijing, flew to Paris via Doha, got an apartment, a bank account, a phone, an internship at the International Herald Tribune, and a folding table for my place. It has been a long couple of months and if I had been able to see one of my best friends get married in New England last week, I would have made it AROUND THE WORLD.

So now I'm settled, mostly. I'm waiting on the last two pieces of French bureaucracy that make me 100 percent legit--my carte de sejour, a kind of a residence permit, and a carte vitale, my health insurace card--and that's it. Then, I will be fully settled-in.

I do want to write about some of the things I've done, but then again I don't want to bore people with long and rambling tales of travel. So, my solution to this is a plan to post a few snippets, with photos, about the things from my journey that I liked best. Then, once I start school and get moving with my internship, I'll post normally again, I think.

In any case, that won't happen today. Maybe I'll start tomorrow. But until then, I wanted to share this. I saw it today and was so so so impressed. It's well worth the entire 8:33 minutes. I promise.

Carcassonne

Carcassonne, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

From England, I flew to Carcassonne in the South of France. Carcassonne has an ancient walled city at its center (La Cite). The youth hostel is located within the walls and that's where I stayed.

Collioure

colliourebateaux, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

I stopped in Collioure on what became a two-day mission to see the sea. Collioure is a very cute, rather touristy town on the Cote Vermeille.

collioure, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

Cerbere

Cerbere, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

Cerbere is the last train stop before the Spanish border. I got off just to see what there was to see, and aside from it being quite pretty, there wasn't much. I was there in the middle of the day and all the shops and restaurants were closed. The harbor is very pretty and the beach is a pebble beach.

fenetre, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

Yes, I am reverting back to crap student photographer mode.

oldcar, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

An old car.

Old men in the park...

oldmen, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

They invited me to play with them, but I was shy, and on my way to catch a train. (She must be Japanese, I heard them whisper to each other.)

Perpignan

Perpignan, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

Perpignan is the capital of the Roussillon province. It's Catalan country (Catalogne in French) and everywhere you go, you see pro-Catalan posters and slogans and flags.

These are posters for a protest to demand some kind of governmental recognition for Catalan people.

Perpignan

perpignanmur, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

Those damned A-rabs!

downwith, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

If little old ladies (I was accosted by a few) are any indication as to the average Frenchman's mindset, Arabs are on everyone's shit list.

"Abat les arabe" is something
like "Down with Arabs." An understandably irritated Arab with a pen turned the message's meaning against the French.

Not only in China...

squatter, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

The toilets at the train station in Carcassonne.

It is in fact...

baguetteman, originally uploaded by dadapunk80.

...a Frenchman, in a beret, carrying a baguette in his knapsack.