New Skill Sets

so....HALLO FROM FRANCE!!!

photography is constantly expanding. from film, to different types of film, to different types of developing, to digital, to 28934982375 digital darkrooms and all million functions of those, things can get pretty exciting. there's always something to learn about.

for example, when i was at the museum i learned about a camera that changes its aperture by changing its length. weird!!

well, french for me is kinda new skill i guess. it's something that i want, and need (at this point, i am in france under contract to speak french) to learn, and to learn well. sure, i'm just begining and mistakes are expected (like over exposing an image), but at the same time i really want to be perfect. I want people to think I am making a strong effort. so the perfection issue leads me to mumble, so maybe they won't notice my mistake. which, if it isn't obvious already, only aggravates the problem.

so. france so far.
plane ride was GREAT. got three whole seats to myself, and met a girl from norwood who's staying somewhere in paris. that was cool. we kept eachother company when we weren't sleeping. i used her camera to take 'out the window' pictures.

i found annette very easily, and we took the metro back to her place, where i washed, she gave me some maps, and i went out to explore her neighborhood. lots and lots of diveristy in this part. it made me feel a little uncomfortable which was weird, but maybe just because i was jetlagged and not really sure about anything. at an internet cafe, i made a really terrible numbers mistake, and got so flustered trying to correct myself (note to self: .15euros, is not 5euros.) i tried to give him way more than was needed, and he ended up just telling me it was okay and not to worry about paying. wayyy embarressing.

today i went out and bought a watch. i realized that i had been using my cell phone to tell time, and that this would not work here. it's pretty. silver with a blue face. and it works. after that purchase, i went to notre dame to walk around. it was more familiar to me than anything else, so it was very comforting. then dinner with pierre's family (omg - vanessa and alexandra...GORGEOUS)

after that i came back here, found soem shady internets, and posted this. I found out who my host mother is (one woman only...marie claire) and called her and she seems very nice.

...I also saw a starbucks.

(no pics this entry...internets too sketchy to upload anything)