There and Back Again, Found a Job in New York

Well people…vacation is so, so, over. I’m thinking that it would be impossible to go through life and not spend a few months living abroad again. If you’re thinking of a vacation, try going to a language school like I did – spend an extra few hundred dollars, go with a friend or by yourself, and meet tons of great people and get more out of your experience.

For all you Americans out there that are afraid to travel- there’s a whole other world that exists beyond our borders. I know it seems crazy, but it’s true. And people out there are not mean, and they like us…in fact, they’re obsessed. So go out there, and make some new friends.

I’m back in New York and I’ve found myself a job. Yes, even in the economy, people are still partying and drinking, new restaurants are opening every day, and there is still work out there for people who are not picky.

But I, dear friends, will no longer be blogging. I don’t want to blog about my life…I just want to live it. And I’m ready now, more than ever.

It was fun blogging about my experience abroad and I thank you so much for sharing it with me. I wish I could have shared a lot more, but right now…do a little digging and you will find a wealth of other blogs out there. Try www.wordpress.com or www.technorati.com – Look into the “tags” section and you will find blogs about anything and everything, and if I find some good ones, I will occasionally link to them here.

For now – try reading www.stillgoodnews.com – This is a site I have with a couple of friends where we find all the quirky, positive and hopeful news out there (Yes, there is still some good news out there!). It’s everything from – ‘re-using old subway cars as coral reefs’, to ‘why watching  David Caruso on Law & Order makes you hungry.”

http://www.stillgoodnews.com/?p=122

If anyone would like to take over this site and write about your own adventure- please contact me at channon(‘AT’ symbol)fromrighthere.com!

Thank you for reading!

Back in NYC and looking for a JOB

I’m back in NYC. After a short jaunt to Philadelphia to check out some opportunities, I’m back in the heart of the country.

Every story on the radio, every big segment on television is a sob story about the economy. Unemployment is up, hope is way way way down. And today, I will do my first official pounding-of-the-pavement.

There are still lots of jobs posted on craigs list for servers, but I’m expecting most open interviews to be cattle-calls. And of course, the restaurants where you never make any money are always hiring. And EVERYONE wants you to know wines…I don’t recall that being an elective in college. They never teach you the important stuff….

Best site for working in the food industry in NYC – http://shiftdrink.com/index.php

Back from France and Feeling…uh…yeah….

My vacation of a lifetime is now over. I’m no longer in France, I’m no longer dating french guys with  motorcycles. I’m no longer eating baguettes and frommage-frais on a daily basis. I miss my vacation, but honestly- I knew it was only temporary. I’ve got to grow up sometime. It’s great to see friends again, and to jump back into living the high-life in New York City.

I’m back in NYC and all my friends are scaring the shit out of me with all this economy-grise stuff. I’m very happy about Obama…but the magic he’ll try and pull out of his hat is a little too early for all the job-hunting I’ll have to do. More on that to come…

One thing I will NOT go back to is a daily-grind that excludes doing the stuff I want to do — like writing. I’m attempting to write for 3 hours every day except Saturday – blogs/short stories/the outline stage of a novel. I’ll keep you up on my progress.

I started on Wednesday and so far – Week 1 – I got a 3 1/2 out of 4. One day, the mess I created in my mom’s living room just made me crazy and I cleaned. (cleaning along with cooking – will be my nemesis…I can already see it now… Clean room….Packed fridge…and nothing else getting done.) 

To make up for my serious lack of writing in the past few weeks, check out “Slow Like Honey” a super-fun blog about baking, j-crew catalog shopping, and fiona apple. This is such a sweet and successful blog, and author Amanda updates all the time-

http://slowlikehoney.net

Thanks for the Fiona Apple link, Amanda! This really takes me back.

Photos from Paris France, Jardins du Luxembourg et La Rue

Photos from walking around in Paris.

These photos were taken at the Jardins des Plantes in Paris – the Botanical Gardens of Paris, if you will. This garden is completely free, had many blooming flowers even in October, and has several nice exhibits for kids and people like me who are nil with biology. One exhbit chronicals the millions of years of history of the earth while you’re walking – you just have to see to believe it!

had to get me some boots for paris – can’t do the sneakers here!

Many, Many street photos – including this little cafe – where I accidentally ordered LIVER…oh la.. (it said BOEUF!)

This is what people do, alll dayyy – hang in cafe’s – rain or shine.

These photos were taken at one of my favorite spots in Paris – The Jardins du Luxembourg. They were originally built to please Queen Marie de Medici, Henri IV’s widow – I guess she was feeling homesick. So this reminded her of Florence. It’s now the home of the Senate, and is a central place to play tennis, chess, or just walk around. It contains over a 100 statues of some of the women of France.

For the link to more, go to my Picasso site: http://picasaweb.google.com/chodger/ParisOctober#

Photos from Paris#2, France – Strike and Musee D’Orsay

Photos from my first week in Paris – just wandering around alllll daaayyy loonnnggg.

These are photos of a “greve” a strike in Paris. These happen quite often and people often return to work the same day or next. They are held more to show opposition – usually complaining about a salary. This was for Hospital Workers.

‘Grise’ refers to the economic crisis in the US. They talk constantly about it, as they do everywhere. So far, there have been several small French Banks that have been hurt, but the worst of the damage is yet to come. Funny enough, aside from your house mortgage, many French people I’ve met here owe nothing on credit cards or loans. It’s not part of the culture and students rarely graduate with a hefty monthly payment because school is “gratuite!”

Musee D’Orsay – The Museum of Post-Renaissance, Impressionist and Post-Impressionists (1848-1914). It’s got all the good stuff, so make sure you stop there.

(highly DON”T recommend the food – awful, tiny cafeteria, and 2 over-priced restaurants).

 

For more, click on the link to my picasso photo gallery -

http://picasaweb.google.com/chodger/ParisOctober#

A Month in Paris

I’ve just spent a week in Paris – it’s beautiful but bittersweet, because Paris is the beginning of the end of my past 5 months in France. After this, it’s back to NYC, back to strolling the streets looking for a job, back to the grind, back to real life.

Paris is beautiful. As far as size and diversity, it has nothing on NYC or London or Tokyo. But every road, every street is “pretty” – creamy apartment buildings, long stretching boulevards, jardins and parks at every corner. I suppose it helps your city if you’ve had people like Catherine Medici and Napolean dispensing all the people’s taxes on whatever monument they dreamed up. But even the streets that are not dated from centuries ago are “cute”. When it has just rained, all the black streets are glissening and young ladies with dripping wet bangs sweeping across their foreheads are chatting in cafes like the night will never end.

Unfortunately – my time on the computer is hindered – not by my situation (my aunt is lovelingly taking me in, feeding me and being generally super-generous), but rather because I head out every day and meet up with friends and ‘balader’ and walk around (and spend the rest of the time planning a trip to Italy).

I promise a gigantuan load of photos…very, very soon.

For now, Good LUCK to all the Americans, and to everyone else – Bonne Journee.

Bread and Cheese in France – Where Life Gets Good

Here’s an exerpt from my latest piece for my friend Clarence’s Food Blog! Click here for the full article -

http://you-food.net/

Ahhh…Bread and Cheese. The very basics of French Cuisine. If you head to your local Whole Foods and attempt to pick out a French cheese, it can seem pretty daunting, it seems like there are a million varieties and they all have names that sound funny. Likewise, it is nearly impossible to find a decent crusty bread, both in the US AND even in France. Either it’s uber-chewy on the outside and goopy in the middle or it lasts for less than one day and unlike me, you can’t bring yourself to eat an entire baguette in 4 hours….

The Best (ok and Cheesiest) Radio Station in France

www.cheriefm.fr

Oh CherieFM, Cherie FM.

Only you can play Phil Collins and George Micheal and Carla Bruni and James Blunt and Daniel Pewter and all those spanish guys that sing from the top of their lungs and you can TELL are sexy just from hearing it…only you, Cherie FM can make it all seem like it’s supposed to go together.

CherieFM – Love Songs from France. You may not be adored by all those techno-kids over here, but you got me-(but if you could stop playing that ONE Colbie Callait song over and over and over, I’d appreciate it).

France – Photos of Every Day People, Montpellier

I can’t say I just spent a whole day taking pictures of normal French people. I can’t categorize any person as normal, especially French! I spent Sunday at a Festival of “welcome”, a brilliant idea by the city of Montpellier, that invites every association, dance school, choral group, mosaic-workshop, gay/lesbian club, karate class in the greater Languedoc area to come and give out information to the public.

It was a beautiful day to appreciate how nice it is to live for a few months in one of France’s largest cities, where culture is king. Here’s some photos of Montpellierians…and French people, whom I try to impersonate on a daily basis.

Salsa dancing is VERRYYY popular in Montpellier. It may be because Montpellier is a huge cultural center for dance, with many dane schools and its own yearly dance festival – Montpellier Dance. They also had their own country line-dancing group.

Even when women are dressed “comfortably” in France, they always wear jewelery, and have great hair. Love her bag, too! And don’t even think of wearing sweats unless you’re headed to the gym…it’s just weird.

France – Photos of Every Day People in Montpellier 2

Can’t say there’s a uniform “style” here in the Languedoc in France, but I see a lot of young ladies with flats, flats, falts, great earings and bangs, sweeping across the brow and hiding very flirty eyes.

I met a young guy from England visiting who described French girls as this -

“They just know you want to snog them, and you can tell they don’t even care…”

Ah…I think my favorite Montpellier Photo Blogger is back from the states…finallY!

http://montpellierdailyphoto.blogspot.com/