Jen: becoming slightly more aware of my fan base

So I know I haven't blogged in awhile and it's a shame because A LOT has actually been happening.  So I went to a few clubs over the course of the weekend with Aryana and her crew- which was really really really fun!  One night I got in free because some guy decided to pay for me (the mix?)... another it was ladies night so we got in for free... and others we had to pay, but it was still a great time.  At one of the places we got into a bit a of a dance off which was fun (cafe oz)... I also met a girl there who was from my town!  At Queen, there was lots of techno music, so we ended up leaving after just a bit- cool part was that we got in because we were on the 'official list.'  Their language partners knew someone or something and they got all of our names on to the list... which felt pretty sweet.
Mind you, I have been getting back at like 6:30 in the morning most of these nights... because the metro closes at 1 and doesn't reopen until somewhere around 5 or 530AM.  One time we went down the up escalator, which was off, in order to get into the station which was otherwise closed.  Some creepy guy followed us in and we had to pretend we were from spanish speaking country and could not understand when he was speaking to us in french OR in english... well I guess we didn't have to, but it was pretty darn fun doing it.  Especially the part when he left and didn't knife us- that was pretty fun.  I guess we have had a whole string of random guys who have been creepily following us and trying to ask us questions.  I know today for me, some guy came up while I was waiting for the metro and started speaking to me (telling me i am nice and that I'm a princess :/ ..yeh, it was awkward).  So when he asked, I told him I was in Paris just for the week- originally from montreal.  Well, I have actually told many people that I am from Montreal so they don't judge me as being a girl from the US... the ones who can't speak french... ya....  So either way, I avoided that one as well. Apparently being semi-chased by random french guys is normal.
Ok, then tonight I got a drink with the guy from scrubs.. kind of : )  It was decent.  We may go for some candian throw up looking dish on tuesday- ya, it shall be pretty exciting.  We exchanged many strange stories- I guess that makes it a good time?  (WENHUI- remember to ask me about this, I will explain!)
Also, we went on an open bus tour today... which was absolutely freeeeeeeeezing!  But I guess it is cool to have a tour of paris and have some idea about where things are or what there even is to see.
OHH Also shabbat- so I went to the chabad for friday night dinner and saturday lunch.  It was really nice of them to invite me over... and their two youngest are adorable!  They have 4 children- the two older are boys and the younger are girls.  It was interesting being there- they were talking a bit about religious life in France...  She also said how they car has been smashed on multiple occasions by neighbors... how the french tend to be a little less tolerant towards religion :/
On saturday, following lunch, we went to a nearby shul for a tu-bishvat party thing.  It was pretty cute and the people there seemed to be very nice.  The only issue was that many of them spoke ONLY french and not really any english.  This made conversation pretty challenging.  Also it was a bit frustrating when one of they guys stood up to give a dvar torah and the only things I could understand were the bits and pieces of hebrew he threw in... and something about character traits?  I really couldn't even tell you.  They will be doing a shabbaton there in a few weeks so I'm actually pretty excited about that... it should be really nice.  It would be cool to get a little bit more into the jewish community here... I'm working on it.
Also, there is another girl here, a friend of Aryana's, who also is super into UN stuff and has interned at a few different agencies.  She is also interested in interning at UNESCO... so it was pretty cool to talk to her about that kind of stuff... very few people are actually interested to hear about what I think is the coolesttttt thing ever (as in stuff that happens at unesco.. pertaining to human rights and bioethics.. and the details of my internship).

man, i really breezed through everything, even though every story i mentioned has a bazillion and one more details.  I should probably get some sleep- I overslept today and missed the first loop of the bus tour : /

bonne nuit! <3

Wen: Don't worry, Jen's hasn't dissapeared, she's just shabbating

So, here's what I've been up to:
Nothing.  I'm exaggerating, but really, I'm super unproductive.  The suitcase to the left is not mine, but it is empty like mine and is red like mine.

The problem is, I have to pack because I'm leaving Tuesday morning to catch a flight at 9:15am.  Yeah, that's fantastic.  I have to get there 2 hours ahead, AND the driving takes like almost 2 hours... so that means I'm leaving around 5am?!??!?!

This is going to be a problem.  Haha.

So, I have not packed yet and I have lots to do.  Yesterday I went to KMart and got a plug adapter for Australia, a travel pillow for the horrible Coach seats and my favorite, I got 4 little 3oz plastic bottles for facewash, lotion etc.  The flight's 18 hours so I'm hoping to bring my mp3 player and listen to some book tapes.  I was about to download the Twilight series, but after watching the movie with Amir I reconsidered.  Anyway, I wanted to bring my laptop and get some work done, but it turns out that adapters/inverters are SUUUPER expensive.  No go on that idea!

I also fake booked a ticket for Cathay Pacific to see if I had any chance of moving up a few row or out of Economy, but it seems that out of 353 seats on this Boeing 777-300 plane, there are two still open in economy.  One of them just so happens to be on my left... yay for space?!?  I guess I should be lucky that I'm sitting in the aisle, although I am in the second to last row, very near the bathrooms. 

Hopefully the food will be good.  The website says that they have a full stock of food that you can snack on anytime.  I might just really, really take advantage of this.  And when I say I might, I mean I will.  It makes sense, because heck, what am I going to do on a 18 hour flight!?  Anyway, I paid for it!  Also, I should stock up on food when I get to Hong Kong, or even Beijing for that matter because layovers are annoying, and I don't want to get hungry and buy super expensive airport food.  By the way, I'm staying in Hong Kong for a night because my layover is super long.  That should be an interesting blog post. :)

Jen: I feel like it's been a while

So it has probably been less than a day since I last posted, but it feels like practically forever.  I have to leave for a welcome dinner in about one minute- so here is a summary of the ongoings since I last posted.  Hopefully I will post tonight as well- but I think it will be a late night.  So basically last night I didn't end up going out, but I did go up to visit that girl I know from the Harvard summer program, Aryana.  So I am REALLY happy that I went up because she is super sweet and all her friends seem really cool and funny as well.  I think I might go out clubbing with them tonight, hopefully- at least that is the plan.

I took the sorbonne placement test today- and obviously I tested as beginner- no shock there (or as they say debutant?). We went back to the crepe place after that which was really good.  I also found the Chabad today and will be going there tomorrow for shabbat.

Ok- must run! Out to the dinner!

Wen: Posting something purely for the sake of posting

So, obviously Jennifer has been out posting me with her fantastic adventures in Paris. 
Just wait until I get to China and Australia.  I will become a blogging fiend.

Anyway, so today I made a wonderful discovery that I thought I should share with everyone.  As most UConners know, South Dining Hall has been under construction and we're all forced to use paper and plastic dishes and utensils.  This has been great for me because it means that I have an endless supply of these things for the apartment.  I especially enjoy the hot cups, because they are incredibly useful for making tea... and oh yeah! They have "free" tea at South too!  My favorite combination will have to be a combination of Mint Medley and Lemon Lift.  The only problem with the South hot cups is that they don't come with a cap or prepackaged honey.  The caps are essential to not burning your flesh off when you walk at a brisk pace, and the honey is essential to making the tea taste delicious.

Anyway, I'm currently at the library and now this brings me to my wonderful discovery.  I took the hot cup up to the counter and asked for hot water, which was delivered to me in a timely fashion, then I proceeded to find a stirring rod for the honey that I brought in another hot cup.  On the table next to the utensils I found CAPS!  I remember thinking, wow, that would be cool if they fit onto my cup.  And they do!  So basically, if you need to stock up on caps for your free South hot cups, you can find them at your nearest Homer Babbidge Library. 

The end.

JEN: UNESCO!

Ok, so my computer is going to die soon so this will actually be quick (unlike many other times when I say it will be quick and it very much isn't).  UNESCO is awesome!  The internship director guy is AWESOME.  We discussed possible options for the internship and he is going to get back to me with more details after he meets with the bioethics director tomorrow.  Everything he suggested sounded SO cool.  I may be able to review the information that has been sent in by the bioethics center in Haifa... which is the place I was going to intern if UNESCO fell through.  I am already familiar with the director there and the stuff they work on.  This is AWESOME.  Also, I get to learn more about what Israel has been doing as far bioethics is concerned. OMGOSH this is so far everything I expected and wanted out of this internship and MORE.  He is so chill and was totally cool with me taking off the breaks that normal University students have here, AND he said I can have off Thursday so I can take the Art History class that I was a little bummed that I was going to be missing.  THIS IS AWESOMEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!! Literally, I could't stop smiling while I was there and even as I left.  I will be able to attend the first international ethics education meeting in March and help with organizing and stuff.... AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH SOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

Jen: Cafe Au Lait, Sil Vous Plait

So I am currently sitting in a café- it is 9AM approximately on Wednesday writing a word document in order to later copy and paste into the blog.  I just ordered my first thing by myself!!!!  I got café au lait… and he understood!!!! He did switch to English… which is fine, I mean I know I still sound super American plus I was incredibly hesitant.  Still, I’m sitting here sipping my coffee, and it is awesome- well not as much the coffee- more so the idea of being able to sit down and drink it after I successfully ordered it.  I sort of plan to stay here for an hour, so hopefully they won’t kick me out… my internship meeting is at 10:30 and I left at like 8:30 in order to make sure that I got here with enough time.   On to perhaps more exciting things.

So last night we went out and it was REALLY fun, actually.  We went to this beauuuutiful area to what was called the 'student bar' for happy hour.  It was nice to just sit back and casually sip a cocktail without it being a matter of getting plastered.  We continued on to a crepe place which was also really cool and I learned some new vocab like eouf fromage which means egg with cheese basically.  Then as we were wandering around we found an Irish pub place which looked pretty nice- so we went in.  We sat down on one side of the bar and on the other there were a bunch of other people.  One of the girls from our table went over to the other side and started up a conversation with the others, and eventually the rest of us joined in.  We met two French guys, one who claimed to be Dutch, ‘Charlelee (supposed burberry/eve saint lauren/high fashion model now working for Apple),’ and the other, ‘Arthur (arteur, student at a nearby University).’  We also met the two English girls who were sitting at the table next to theirs.  It was really cool- they were teaching us some French and offered to show us around Paris one of these days.  Charlelee even got us all drinks, but not in a sleazy way.  We stayed out until after the metro closed which was like by 1AM.  Charlelee and Arteur offered to walk us all the way back to our dorm, which was actually like 40 minutes away walking… not as bad as we thought it would be.  They also were going in our direction as they live, so they say, about 15 minutes away from Cite.  At the end the two guys exchanged numbers with some people from our group so we can contact them again and said the typical French goodbye with the double kiss cheek thing… ya, I think it is starting to sink in that I am seriously in Paris.

Jeez, the coffee actually is really good.  Haha, this is clearly a longer post because I am just chilling in the café until around 10… it’s right across from my internship building.  I think this might be my place for morning coffee.  It isn’t even so expensive compared to what we were told to expect as per coffee pricing.  It is 3.30 Euro, which granted is not cheap… probably the equivalent of like a starbucks coffee… still we were told around 5 was normal.  I have no idea how long people generally stay at a cafe so I hope I'm not being rude by sitting here forever.

Oh shoot, turns out this place doesss have wireless!  Man, this is definitely going to be the spot.  Also, weird trend- all of their coffee places are also bars.  I haven't seen a single cafe that is justtt a cafe... this happens to be a bakery/cafe/bar... no way to go wrong.  By the way, the coffee actually looks exactly the same as in the picture... the cup is practically identical, but the coaster doesn't have a yellow border.

Jen: Many Findings

So after I came back from the grocery store this morning I went for a trial run to UNESCO.... it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be!  I turned the wrong way a few times while walking, but took the correct RER and Metro and got off at the right stops and everything.  It was awesome.  Also, I did some exploring and I think I found the eiffel tower!!  Ya, so some great findings today.
I also made it back in time to meet up with the girls at 4:30... like perfect timing.  I went back with them to the same grocery store and clearly something else HAD to happen.  The cashier accidentally rung up my stuff along with the stuff of the guy after me... and put it on one bill.  Of course they were trying to figure out how much then I had to pay and how much the other guy had to pay, which made for some very complex sentences that I did not at all understand.  It was VERY clear that I spoke English, so I was a little irritated that only once I asked in French, "parlez vous anglais," did the guy switch to English to explain to me what was happening.  It took like 20 minutes for them to subtract the price of two items from the entire bill... it was crazy.  It probably would have taken less time if she just re-rung us up altogether.
Now I'm going to be heading with the girls to find out about the night life... we'll see what happens. I don't want to be out too late because I have to get to UNESCO tomorrow morning... and not sleep through.

A bientot : )

Jen: Breakfast

So I went downstairs and luckily there was a girl from UConn who has been here already for a semester.  After some small talk, she offered to show me where the supermarket is so I could pick up some stuff (apparently the main breakfasty place is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).  Now I know where to get groceries!  I bought bananas, muffins (which she said were delicious, basically a must have), laundry detergent powder (the machines downstairs don't like liquid), WATER (ahhh I have been sooo thirsty), plastic cups, and tea bags (didn't think about how I don't really have access to hot water).
The grocery store was pretty funny... there was TONS of wine and beer and biscuits (which really are just cookies).  When I went to go pay for everything, I was feeling semi-confident.  I said bonjour back to the cashier and gave a 20 euro bill to cover the 10.52 that everything cost.  Suddenly she mutters something realllllly quickly, to which I cleverly reply "uhh uhhh... qua?"  She repeats it again, but I already knew that it wouldn't help... so I asked the girl who went with me to the store to translate.  Apparently she was asking if I had exact change (the 52 cents or whatever).  Meh... from now on the answer to every question that I don't understand will just be "non."  We'll see where that takes me.
Either way, I am excited to have my breakfast of a banana, muffin, and best of all COFFEE.  So I was able to get coffee from the machine downstairs because now I had change!  I got cafe long au lait sans sucar!  Ok, breakfast time and then hopefully I'll meet up with everyone for shopping.  EFFF I meant to buy pens/pencils at the grocery store... completely forgot.  Perhaps today while we are out I will be able to... I also need to figure out how I will get to UNESCO tomorrow morning... I should probably leave at 8AM... even though it's half hour away and I have to be there at 10:30... I am confident that I will probably somehow get lost.
Au revoir!

Jen: Shower Work Out

Ok, so here is a quick blog.  I just missed breakfast with the group because I completely slept through.  I set my alarm for really early so I could wake up and shower and have some time to chill.  Instead, I hit snooze and slept until 11:30.  Oops.  I thought I would easily wake up because I was having such trouble falling asleep anyway. Apparently once I got out of bed at 5AM and figured out how to turn up the heat and used the lady's room (which I was too scared to walk to and 12AM last night...), the sleeping was a lot easier to manage.  They texted to ask where I was and when I called (an hour late), they said they were just returning from breakfast... I'm going to tell them to just pound down my door next time.  So once I get dressed I'm going to hunt down breakfast on my own, and then everyone is meeting up like maybe 2ish to leave for a day of shopping.
So here is the exciting part... their showers are STRANGE.  Here is the deal: you walk in and they seem pretty well kept and first once your like yes! this might not be so bad!  Of course, you have to flip the switch DOWN to turn on the light (seems to be a trend here).  Then you walk in one of the four separate shower stalls, put your stuff down on the fairly large bench outside the shower and continue to walk in.  There is simply one button, so you press it. There is NO temperature gauge at all.. .no way to make it hotter or colder.  Luckily, the temperature was actually pretty nice, as was the pressure (no way to control that, either).  Here is the kicker, when you press the button, the water only continues to flow for like 30 seconds.  That's right, so every thirty seconds you are again pressing in this little button.  Now, you can imagine how much faster these shower go, or rather how much longer they seem, when every thirty seconds you are pressing a button for more water to come.  The thing is, you can't lightly tap it either, it has to be a real push with finger vigor.
Alright, time to get dressed and make a fool of myself trying to order cafe en creme? and un croissant?

Jen: my blogging is out of CONTROL

So for the third time in one day, here I am again.  I just don't want to miss any of this craziness and forget about it.  So a couple of cool things have happened tonight.  We went to the director's apartment and she brought dinner for us.  She was nice enough to get kosher chicken for everyone, just so I would also be able to eat and not feel at all uncomfortable... she even had plastic plates and utensils and everything... it was really really nice and super unexpected.  I mentioned that I kept kosher like once... so it was just a really nice gesture.
Later I also found out that she was Jewish... I feel like it's super weird how so many of the foreign teachers at UConn are Jewish.. I had a Spanish professor who was also Jewish... maybe it's a UConn thing?
We took the metro or whatever it is called for the first time tonight, too.  It's pretty awesome- we got a card with our picture on it and you can even use it through your wallet like in D.C.  Sweet deal.  We passed by a stop that said ville juif (jewish village?)... you better believe I'm going to be seeing what that place is all about.
I was bit bummed to find out that they no longer have the budget to take us on trips to brussels, amsterdam, or prague... but hopefully we'll end up going somehow... : /
Also, I ran into a girl who I did the Harvard Summer program with like in junior year of high school!  Most random thing ever- she is also living in the same dorm complex!  She recognized me like instantly, way impressive on her part... but once she mentioned the summer, I knew who she was, too.  Can't believe I'm running into people in PARIS.

Jen: I'm here!!

So here is a quick update.  I just arrived and settled in.  The room is pretty spacious, but definitely a little bit falling apart.  The building itself is huge and really pretty.  Paris also seems really nice so far- it is a beautiful day out and I'm going to explore!

As for the flight, I almost took out someone's eye when the cap from my water bottle like exploded off, probably has something to do with the difference in pressure when we took off? Either way, it was like an explosive... it literally shot backwards.

I went to go log in at the computer lab downstairs, apparently I had to do that in order to access wifi... I had no idea what I was doing so I had to ask 2 French guys to do it for me... yes, I gave them the sheet which had my full name and room number... maybe not entirely smart, but there is a lock on the door anyway and they seemed nice enough :/

Ok, more later... Bon soir!!!!!! : )

oooo also, their keyboards are WEIRD.  The w or z is like where the A should be and so on... STRANGE.

Part 2:

So now it's 5:32PM... and we have like nothing planned until 7PM tonight.... I have been wandering around Paris a bit which is cool.  I went through the park across the street which was really pretty, then I got lost, and then I wandered until I found my way back.  I met the first person who I truly could not communicate with on any level.  He was some foreigner who spoke some French... and I couldn't understand anything he was saying... so I kept repeating how I don't speak French really and had no IDEA what he was saying... I think he understood once I finally walked away...
I have also been really thirsty and found two separate soda machine things... the first only took coins and the second could only take up to 2 euros... I have a 5 euro bill... so hopefully by tonight I'll find some fluids.  This could also be partially tying back to the wine I had on the plane in order to help me fall asleep... I think I have been parched since then...
This is actually pretty cool, hopefully I don't get sick of the "oh wow this is interesting how I can't understand anything and no one can really understand me" thing.  So far it's been cool to be like, oh so thaaaat's what it's like.  It may get old, only time will tell.  Also, I have been a little intimidated to use even the little French I have picked up... I don't want to sound like I'm stealing their language and butchering it... : /

Jen: Creepy.

I saw bright lights outside of my window.  A cop apparently pulled over a car right in front of our house... they have been there for the past ten minutes.
I am waking up at 6AM to finish packing... or more like empty stuff out of the suitcases so that way they are 50lbs. One is currently at 76 lbs and the other can't really even be zippered yet... this is not good news.  I hope I don't overpack things that are unimportant and forget to pack the things that I will actually need.  It's amazing how little I can actually bring... I think I have been packing like I pack for UConn, not paying attention to how much I stuff into the suitcases, as long as they eventually zipper up.  This method is highly ineffective.
Bed time for me... a whole 4 hours of sleep.  I just hope this is all packed up and finished by like 11AM tomorrow...  

Jen: 24 hours!

So first let me start with someone posted on my facebook wall that they like my hat (as seen in the main picture).  This might just have made my day.
Also, I have been trying to pack for a while, but really have lost most drive.  I HAVE TOO MUCH STUFF!  I keep moving things into the 'not taking' pile, only to change my mind and think of a billion reasons why I need that specific turtle-neck shirt.  Also, I have realized that I will be in France for multiple seasons.  This means I need winter clothes AND summer clothes, and everything in between.  I really want to bring my every color tank tops.. and my many color turtle necks... but really I don't know how necessary these are.  I also have two brown skirts and probably three black ones... perhaps this isn't necessary!? EFFF it's just that I have to pack casual clothes and business-y stuff for the internship, too!  So I figured I'd have one suitcase with all of my clothes and the second with books, shoes, snacks, shower stuff.  The first is full, and I STILL have more clothes to pack!
Also, so last night my family got a cake for my birthday and we kind of celebrated.  Yes, I am turning 21 in France... this might suck.  It won't even be like once I have become buddy-buddy with everyone... it's like a week or two after I really meet them... I realize my 21st birthday might just be lame (February 11th).  But I know my friends, they will probably fly down just to spend the day with me.  That's right... Persis, Diane, Steph, Regan, Valen, Faseeha, Cassie, Wen... I at LEAST expect you girls to fly down for me! haha : /  Maybe I will force those who are abroad in Europe to come visit me at least... or my English friends... or sit in the corner sobbing... anything is possible!
Also... my siblings got me luggage tags... it was like happy birthday, now leave!  Haha... yes, one actually did say 'arrivederci' ...as in bye... in Italian.  : /

Wen: I haven't posted in so long!

So, I haven't posted in so long, mainly because I have nothing to post about!  My existence at UConn has been quite uneventful except for the random few visits from friends that I get to be excited about. 

I was browsing Facebook, like usual, and I came across one of Sam Taylor's posts.  It was a website for a law firm called Slaughter and Virgin.  Haha, I'm so bored that I reposted this. http://www.slaughtervirgin.com/ 

I have been watching a lot of Hulu recently due to my advanced boredom, but I'm sad to say that Hulu announced that they will be charging 4$ and something per a month to use their site, starting in the next few months. 

Also, I came across an interesting compilation of deleted Family Guy scenes: 10 Great Deleted Scenes from Family Guy

One last thing, I'm sure he doesn't really read this, but... HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALI!

Wen and Jen's list of things we will NOT miss while abroad

• arjona
• the smell of cows
• lots of studying/homework
• lofted beds
• ceric
• monteith
• overeating
• super cold weather
• parking tickets
• the chemistry building
• biochemistry
• huskymail
• unreliable buses

It might be that there is a whollllle lot more that we will miss! : /  This is pathetic!

Collectible Frisbee

In honor of Phil's request.  Selling for 983 pennies.

Jen: Leaving the Tefillin at Home

I have been packing all day.  I will be taking all of my kind of on-the-edge clothing with me, because if there is anywhere it will work, it's probably Paris.  I have tried to search images of what French people wear, but to no real avail.  While packing I have had the TV on in the background.  Top 3 amusing things that were on TV today:
1. Plane emergency landed in Philly because of a 17 year old putting on Tefillin
2. Instructions on how to use an Epipen
3. Best way to eat healthy: take 5 breaths and decide not to eat

My room is an absolute mess!  I'm not even half done with packing.  Tomorrow I have to bring my car in to get repaired :/

Hah, also funny, so apparently I had to call Wachovia in order to tell them that I might be taking out money abroad.  I had to list every country I might possibly visit... new goal: to actually visit every one of these places.
I said France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Austria, Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Czech Republic. EFF, I forgot to say England I think.  This is officially the master list.

Jen: YES!!!!!!

My internship advisor responded!!!!!! He asked me to come in this coming week to discuss internship details!!!!!! I was getting so nervous!

Also, we currently have 29 fans on facebook... I am confident that we will meet our goal!

Jen: Looking Past Certain Things

Wen will understand the title.  I am going to ignore the possible bad that might occur and write as if nothing had happened.  So I drove back today- and get this- TWO BROKEN GAS STATIONS!  I was waiting until I got to NJ to get gas so my tank went pretttty low.  I pulled off the highway like right before I was about to hit empty and there was not one, but TWO closed gas stations!  They were like 5 miles apart and were the two closest stations!  I JUST made it to the third... and then made it home.

My family decided to go to the Sherlock Holmes movie tonight which was pretty good.  I felt a bit loserish when I got EXTREMELY excited about how all the 'magical' texts were in Hebrew.  I felt like I had cracked the code way before Sherlock.
Also, apparently I will be going over my cousin's house Saturday night... so in reality I only have tomorrow to pack and get anything I might need for the trip.
Also now that Wen found a cool way to link the blog to facebook, we have a new goal of getting 30 fans.. we currently have 10... haha I will probably delete this line in the blog if we fail.  Also, I kind of think the snow flakes look like dandruff, but eh. : /

Wen and Jen: The Final Countdown

Wow! We're in the same place!  Jen is sitting across from me, resting on her makeshift bed constructed from Diane and Regan's bedding and let's not forget... their LOVE.  Of course, we would be on our respective laptops browsing the internet, because we become skilled at that in the past few semesters.  At least this time, we're not IMing each other on GChat while in the same room.  Anyway, run down of yesterday's events:
This is exciting!
I was very sad that Jennifer was unable to join us for dinner, but she ended up getting here a few hours later and play CRANIUM!
This last reunion is especially amazing because yesterday's Cranium was incredibly fun :)  Sean and I dominated out of 4 teams.  I got super competitive and I think Jen and I scared a couple of people.  I do remember screaming MULTIPLE times at the top of my lungs at various people.
This morning we ate breakfast and it was delicious.  I had an omelet at South, and it was my first one in like a month! I definitely missed it!
After breakfast, we hung out in the room and watched MUZZY in French! http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTE0NDY4OTg4.html
It's this old school cartoon that's made in many different languages and used to teach children how to speak rudimentary language... therefore, it was PERFECT for us.  I found it bootlegged on the Chinese video site.  I used to watch it in French class in high school, and I enjoyed it immensely back then too.

Jen: Last Hoorah @ UConn

So, I can't say everything really went according to plan today.  The dinner that I was so excited about going to with lots of close friends, didn't really happen.  Or rather, it happened, but I wasn't there.  I was driving from Long Island so I figured that would cut off an hour of my time, at least.  In reality, the traffic made up for that and then some.  I left at 4:30PM and didn't get to UConn until 8:30PM.  The dinner was at around 6:30.  It was hours of bumper to bumper traffic.  I heard the sames songs on the radio about 5 times over the course of the trip. I kept laughing to myself in the car as I thought about how perhaps Wen's statement was true - how boring and terrible times here will lead to us enjoying our abroad experiences even more!  
It was just annoying because I invited some people to come and got myself really excited about it.  In the end everything worked out though because people were still hanging out together once I arrived.  We actually played some really fun games - cranium and this one about dirty minds.  There was lots of laughs, which was really nice.   Persis also made an awesome video of all our times together since freshman year... which will be added to the MUST TAKE TO FRANCE pile, along with the video Diane made for Channukah.  Gosh, once the photo book comes in I will be absolutely set! Being here today has made me think about how much I will miss everyone, and how it's a real shame that this is a lot of my friends' last semester.
We are planning for lunch together tomorrow, so hopefully that will work out.  I will probably have to take off right after that :(   ....it's funny to be sleeping on the couch in my old room... but strangely not entirely unfamiliar.

Jen: The Reunion

I will be going up to UConn  today to visit everyone before I leave.  I just realized that there is a distinct possibility that Wen and I could actually blog together tonight.  I'm not really sure why that was so exciting, but  as soon as I realized I felt like I HAD to blog about it.  I am really excited for tonight- having dinner with some of the coolest people who I will miss a LOT.  The dinner group seems to be growing- I kind of hope we storm the dining hall and take up more than one table- that'd be sweet; look out- we will also have a football player and we ARE not afraid to use him!  I still haven't packed for the little trip... but that shouldn't take more than a few minutes. Haha, I'm watching trash TV at the moment- the Maury show. :/

Wen: I'm really bored and where am I?!?!

So, It's been a real pain in the A to get around UConn.  I don't have all my stuff, and I wish that I brought my umbrella, but alas, it is at home on my bookshelf.  Also, I got swiped into the dining hall a couple of times by Amir, and each time, I realized that I didn't recognize 99% of the people here!  Additionally, they looked extremely young!

What happened?!?

UConn moved on. :(

And the other day, at the Legacy banquet, the 2009 cohort (us) were dismissed and the 2010 cohort was welcomed... it was a sad day.

I guess the good news about me and Jen going abroad is that we're will be starting new friendships and people will be excited to meet us (ummm... relatively).  We're going to be the newbies and it will be a rebirth or sorts... hopefully... until we get sick of it. 
<3

Jen: Packing List!

Ok'doke.  So here it is, the much dreaded list of things I probably will not be able to fit into 1 to 2 suitcases.  haha, I can't wait to compare my list with Wen's.... *prediction* ...her's will be like clean underwear.. and that's like it. No wait, and a toothbrush.

Technology stuff:
1. Laptop + Charger
2. Nook book reader thing + Charger
3. Phone + Charger
4. Camera + Charger
5. Universal adapter/converter thing
6. Ipod? maybe...

Documents:

1. health insurance card

2. passport + visa papers

3. itinerary

Books:

1. MCAT BOOKS

2. president's council bioethics books

3. French-English dictionary

4. photo book if it ever comes in!

5. mini siddur and tanach

Jen: Too good to be true :/

So I will probably make another post today with my packing list, but for right now I will talk about my adventure at the verizon store.  So even though they will be giving us a phone once we get to France, my parents would feel more comfortable if I also had my own phone that wasn't pay-as-you-go and that had my regular phone number.  When I went to Israel, I was able to just switch my phone to international without a problem.  Apparently, the snoody French people do not like to be with compatible with things, so the Blackberry Curve cannot be switched to international service for France.  The only compatible phones are the Storm and the Tour.  This is all back story.

So, My mom and I went to the verizon store because she has some kind of credit and upgrade thing that would make it free to get one of these phones.  So the plan was to go in, switch my blackberry curve for a blackberry tour, 1, 2, 3, done.  When we get there, this guy tells us that it is actually buy one get one free, and because the credit or whatever it is covers one blackberry tour, we can actually get a second one for free in addition.  And also, we can somehow get a netbook for free, too!  Okay, so this sounds peachy- two blackberries and a netbook all for no cost- YA RIGHT.

Wen: Blogging for Jen

Jen and I were recently conversing, and we realized that Jen has a unique ability to spit rhymes and beats like a professional rapper.  For instance, I made a reference about our mutal friend Dave, and subsequently she popped out this poem:

Dave the brave
Lives in a cave
Doesn't really shave
One of my fave
Let's have a rave
And then we'll wave
What a great save

Some details may seem bold and innapropriate, but we assure you that she is joking.

Wen: My First Post!!!!

First off, the hilarious rhyming poem that you wrote should still be posted even though I took it out of the about me for the new formatting!

"We will always be good friends,
Even while we study apart.
Never will we forget our good times,
Nearest and dearest to our heart!
Incredibly funny we both obviously are,
Forever making jokes that no one else understands.
Everyone notices our strange connection,
Remaining close even while we are in foreign lands!"

Second, I wanted to announce that I got my new University of Queensland email, and I found out I get to keep it forever! I think this is partly because it's run through Microsoft.
I guess that's a good thing, but I'm definitely having trouble figuring out how to choose classes! I emailed a lady from UQ to ask her how to do it, and instead of describing it, she just gave me a link, that I have already looked at. Wow... what am I going to do.

Third, I will be going to China before I get to Australia and I get to celebrate Chinese New Year! Yippee!

Jen: Getting in the habit

Ok, so I decided it would be a good idea to get in the habit of posting everyday. Also, I will start my posts with "Jen:" in order to separate easily which posts are mine from which are Wenhui's.

So today was an almost productive day. I found two shuls that I can go to while I am in Paris that are within 15 minutes walking distance and one kosher restaurant. Score. I also have been running through my "french for dummies" book and tapes... and it's pretty cool. I'm actually really enjoying faking a French accent. Except I have realized that there are some words that I will just never be able to pronounce. One example: traduire. It means to 'translate.' ...so I will have to take the long route and ask people to 'say it in English.' So it is.

Our New Blog!

Wen and I have decided to start a blog, primarily in order to stay safe and keep tabs on each other's every move. It would also be nice to keep track of what we do while we are abroad, but that is clearly not the main purpose. We plan to post everyday, whether it be a page, or simply an "I'm alive and breathing."
We'll hopefully add pictures and videos when we can, and help our friends see what we are experiencing abroad.

Enjoy and Bonsoir!
Jen... (and Wen)
<3