photos

this is place st michel, there are several town squares with cafes and stores



faik, master chef of all things turkish


for some reason americans are sterotyped as loving ketchup? so this was to appease the masses


this is a pic of me, deniz, faik, desiree, and giovanna at the international drinking game party

The Weekend/Hurricanes/I Smell Tiger Bait..

Well well, you made it. I had a great weekend, as I'm sure you all did as well. Friday night was a party with the scottish/german folk. The americans had to show them what beer pong and flip cup were. Speed quarters did not go over so well as most of them sucked and had to drink multiple times in a row. We got rained on for the first time since i've been here which isn't to relative seing as how most of yall have been weathering storm after storm. I hope y'all continue helping those who need it, they keep hitting close to home eh? Wiki links abound...Sunday I woke up early and went to St Malo with two germans and two french folk. It was five of us in a little hatchback. We walked around the ramparts of the city and then went down the way to a little village called Cancale. We bought some oysters and went to the beach and ate them with lemons. I would say that oysters here are not near as good and obviously they are a different species. We think that the woman selling them gave us some raunchy oysters because we all had our fair share of "man that last oyster was rotten." In any case we hung out on the beach for a while then drove to Mont St Michel It was very impressive but alas we didnt have the money (5 Euros each) to visit the abbey where the monks live. We had already bought gas oysters and stuff for sandwiches. I came home and cooked hamburgers for the faik and denize (the turks) and three italian birds. Faik didnt have a spatula so the burgs came out a little ugly but tasty nonetheless. I promptly introduced them to cheese fries and tabasco ketchup as well. Today was the first day of class...it was cool we only meet once a week for 2 hrs and sometimes more but I think I like the system. Moving on ....Its too siiiick (Rongey voice applies) The number 3 Tigers finally at home vs. the Vols. I can't believe we are number three and I hope it stays that way and gets better. The stadium is going to be rockin tonight...im uber jealous of those of you lucky enough to go. GEAUX TIGERS.

no raw shrimp??

i was going to make barbecued shrimp tomorrow night but alas...no raw shrimp...anywhere....not even frozen...not even at the huge market on saturday morning. So we're having hamburgers. Things are good over here, hurricane free so far. I saw that the LSU game got pushed back, a monday game should make for an interesting week for you LSU students. I should be able to get some pictures of the town, my friends, my room sometime soon. We watched a HILARIOUS movie in class the other day Dinner Game Its pretty rich, not too long, the description on netflix couldnt be gayer. I laughed my ass off and suggest it to anyone. I think i'm taking a trip to the coast tomorrow, and then we start class on monday. We have about two weeks of add/drop before we really get going so im not quite in school yet. spread the word bout tha blog. bye.

hello hello

i'd like to start by saying that the last post was my first drunken post, most likely there are more to come. I ate dinner with the turkish folks again last night, they're really cool and apparently eastern turkey (istanbul) is a lot like the United States. That being said school is going all right, I'm going out tonight to watch a socceer game and drink mas cerveza. Two nights ago (the night of the turkish stuffing) we went to a park near our dorm to celebrate someones birthday and had a grand old time. A good bottle of wine is like $1.25 so thats been pretty nice. I tried Camembert for the first time last night. You really just have to avoid smelling it and taste it.. but it was very good nonetheless. It very strange to pass two kids in the street arguing over an action figure, effortlessly speaking a language you are trying to master. But things are improving, my accent, for example. I'm kicking it with the french folk and they enjoy speaking english and ooooh the english music. Because your an american you are obligated to know every lyric to every american song ever written. Seriously. On that same note, we were at the bar and the French folk started singing Bon Jovi with a strong enough french accent. What could I do? I just let it ride...but man it was HILARIOUS. Also, I went to like a 3 mile long flea market and they had a stage set up, the band was playing...you guessed it...Culture Club - Karma Chameleon. But it was a guitarist/singer, tambourinist/singer, three dancer/singers, two other dudes who im not sure what they were doing and the sound guy. Very entertaining. If anyone has any LSU/Tennesse extras please email me i know that it is a shot in the black, black, dark. Thanks for the emails. I will try to link at least one thing in all the posts yeah??

too much turkish food

wahts up everybody, frqance is awesome there are dogs everywhere, they shit everywhere. beer is expensive, french bread is cheap. we only had one class today so faik (a turkish guy) and myself went to the grocery and tried out a bunch of beer. some was good but im qfraid the others we had to pour down the sink... yes that bad. so this was around lunchtime... we ate some really good turkish food that him and his girlfriend had made. They live in an apartement right by the school so it was nice. I think its about time for a nap. For those attending the LSU/ Tennessee game. Give thos Vols a nice low, drawn out... hhmmmTIIIIIIIIGER BAIT.

Friday Afternoon

Im back at Subway. I had a great end of the week. I ended up getting relatively sauced with the germans, but they left early. Some French people and myself drank a beer called tris matelots (three sailors) it was damn good. beer here is pretty expensive and its almost impossible to find american beer unless your in paris. So last night was my birthday and alas, I had no strip club or casino to celebrate i. There did happen to be a student association party with a strange mix of music and even odder beverages. They had cider, white and rose wine, and punch. Punch you say?? I like jungle juice, party punch, PdP....This was orange juice rum and cloves. No ice. But what can you do? when in rome...when in france get drunk on shitty punch. I've been trying to keep up with american news; This is an article that really shows how EVERYBODY screwed up Katrina. NEWS Also, Monty Russell is playing in Baton Rouge this week so yall should go check him out. For those who dont remember he played at the KA crawfish boil a few years back. I'm not too sure where, but I would imagine the Varsity or Fred's. Anyway have a good weekend and thanks for the shoutouts by email and facebook.

Wednesday

I will keep it short because of this freaky european keyboard. I was late for class today, so I have to go to the grocery store and buy an alarm. Tonight I am going to party viz das germans. Getting shitty with the nazis...hell yeah. I put in a link to my photo page but upon a recent inspection, some of the photos are really dark and hard to see. feel free to comment on them. I read that the saints will play 4 games in the red stick, in tiger stadium no less AND Dolphins @ Saints... Saban returns. that is going to be a badass game if you root against the who dats your terrrible: if you root against saban your terrible: its a win win situation.

@ Subway

Im posting from the Subway, they have WiFi. We had our first day of classes today. It was interesting we talked about stereotypes of french people and that of other nationalities, they werent too hard on americans but we ripped into the germans....nazi bastards.... I got moved into my dorm it is a small room but nicer than Vertical Africa (Kirby Smith) My lost piece of luggage came today so that was pretty exciting. I have yet to get drunk, but I am working on that. I still have a terrible case of jet lag so thats slowing things down some.... GEAUX TIGERS So i thought i would have internet in my dorm but i don't..so that kind of sucks. if you read the blog holla back and tell me you did so...... I will try and post from the campus some..Its pretty wild to walk past a bar and hear some old men cheering a soccer game or hear two little kids talking in french. ive made friends with some mexicans thats about as close to the south as we get...i told them the only spanish i knew was thanks to shitkee "chinga tu madre puta" or something along those lines, they laughed. Its funny almost everybody ive met speaks at least three languages. In my program there are some turkish, germans, italians, a few english, and a few americans. Im feeling much less sleepy so i might try and get drunk tonight, i've yet to find the strong, professional, drinkers, the equivalent of hitting the bar hard on a monday night and not thinking twice about it (comment directed at LSU's functioning alcoholics) have a big fat ass toddy or some purp for me. Holla

i made it

Rennes is awesome. the trip here was not. To pick up where I left off, I got onto the plane and sat first class. I shared the middle with a French guy who worked at a restaurant in New York. He showed me the deal with first class. I kept on laughing out loud at how RIDICULOUS it was that i had made it to first class. Champagne, OJ, mimosas, warm nuts, moist warm towels, "gourmet" salads and entrees, personal screens, adjustable seats. The flight was nice, when I got to Charles de Gaulle which is an incredibly beautiful airport, as predicted my luggage didn't show. The luggage folks had found one of them it had arrived the night before, but lost the other. I took the TGV to Rennes, then the subway to a part of town in walking distance from the hostel. I walked around in the hot sun for about an hour in the same clothes i had been wearing for two days, dress shirt, slacks, dress shoes, hot as shit and smelled the same. I finally made it to the hostel, and ended up sharing a room with a Japanese kid who spoke little French and even less English. We did manage to communicate that he was a break dancer. No A/,C hot as shit and smelled the same because the bag that was lost contained my toiletries. Woke up and took a taxi to campus. It is a beautiful old building in an old part of town. We are taking a proficiency test and i finally get my dorm this afternoon.

Buddy Pass Blues

My flight was late out of J'ville so I missed my flight to Paris. I spent the night in the JFK Ramada, ordered some terrible Pizza Hut, they put broccoli on my pizza...broccoli. Im about to head out to the airport again and hopefully catch the 6 o'clock to Paris. I have no clue where my two bags are, probably sitting off to the side of the conveyor at Charles de Gaulle, being eyed as suspicious luggage. I'm out the door, have a great day, i probably won't.