August 2010
18 posts
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Bordeaux: Land of Wine →
(Click the title to follow link to article)
Bordeaux wineries have gained a decent amount of exposure recently, from this NYTimes article to a special spread in Newsday (thanks for the alert, GI). After attending wine school and benefiting more than a few times from the delicious local wines within the past week, I can definitely understand why there is such hype about Bordeaux wine. Saturday,...
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Losing my Precision
La Vie Bordelaise.
Mise-en-scène: It’s just before midnight, and the temperature is clinging to its last semblance of summer. The leaves outside my open window rustle occasionally with the breeze, in a manner that seems highly unimpressive after the dramatic wind storm (it’s a twistah!) Julia and I experienced earlier today while we tried to nap. But the leaves are the slightest of...
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And Suddenly the Hinges Started to Un-hitch
At the beginning of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s house falls from the sky and lands in a strange world. “I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” she tells Toto. I have always loved Dorothy, from her endearingly tacky red shoes to her ultimate realization that she had everything she wanted right in front of her all along. But now, after being dropped in the middle of an...
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Bienvenue(zzzzz)
Bon soir from Bordeaux! It is roughly a million degrees here and I am sore and jetlagged sitting in my room for the next 2 weeks, but I am beyond happy to be here and highly reassured after a serendipitous great day. I already feel myself falling back into my old comfortable rhythm of speaking French, and my host mother is interesting, artistic, and cooked me scallions and big tomatoes (jealous,...
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“One Week till takeoff!”
“Stuart rose from the ditch, climbed into his car, and started up the road that led toward the north. The sun was just coming up over the hills on his right. As he peered ahead into the great land that stretched before him, the way seemed long. But the sky was bright, and he somehow felt he was headed in the right direction.” -Stuart Little by E.B. White
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Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow...
Traveling is a joy and a privilege, but it is also a sacrifice. I have been lucky enough to learn this first hand many times over. My semester abroad is so close I can nearly taste the escargot, and my excitement grows by the minute. In all this excitement, I’ve nearly forgotten one of the hardest lessons from traveling: that each journey to somewhere is also a journey from somewhere. That...
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Bonjour Blogosphere
I feel like this is almost cheating.
I’m currently sitting in my (guest) bed in Washington, DC, far removed from that legendary Hexagon that will soon become my home for five months. The closest reminders of my impending adventures consist of the bright pink Eiffel Tower pillow strategically gifted by my Aunt and Uncle, and my book Suite Française, as recommended by Wesleyan Dean of Admission...
“It’s not that they’re so bad,” said Aline. “They just...”
– Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky 