Running all around

We finally had our orientation for all of the FB participants here in France. Despite my worries about the strange people who might be here, I am pleased to say that I have found some kindred spirits among the historians, and the art historian we have brought into our little group. We're a fairly snarky group but nearly all the girls have husbands doing MFAs in film, which is an odd coincidence but pretty damn cool.

The orientation was a little too "groupy-groupy" in the words of one of the other historians. I feel a bit like Rachel on her Taglit trip, but I'm not a huge fan of the FB kool-aid. We had lots of meetings, and then a reception at the Senat in the Palais du Luxembourg, which is an incredible building. The US ambassador had one of the worst accents I've ever heard, which made me feel better about my own French skills (I'll probably get in great big trouble for saying that, but it's true!) The palace, which is in the Luxembourg gardesn was pretty amazing, as was the free champagne!

The real highlight, however, was the behind the scenes tour yesterday of the Bibliothèque nationale, a building known for its mysterious methods and the fact that the reading rooms are underground and you feel like you descend several levels of hell to get down there. But it was amazing to go back into the belly of the machine and see where the books actually live.

Well I'm starting to do work now so I should probably leave off and get back to it. Sorry I haven't had internet access for the last week but hopefully will be a better correspondent from this week on.
For those of you taking exams, remember to breathe, to sleep, and to eat. And I promise you'll do fabulous! Bonne chance!

Some piccies

I have found a very strange way of connecting to the internet. There is a global wireless network called Fon that you can sign up with where you share your wireless and then you can access wireless around the world wherever there is a Fon network. You can also just buy wirelss from the network at the cost of $2 a day, which is what I am doing. I am called an 'alien' in the weird lingo of the network, but it seems to fit!

I've had an interesting couple of days trying to open a bank account and do other sorts of bureaucratic things. Oddly once you find the right bank, it's easier to open a bank account in France than in New Jersey - you just have to know where to go apparently.

I also have had the pleasure of seeing Tony Parker (Eva Longoria's French basketball-playing husband) starring in a music video from his new rap album, since they play it on French tv during commercial breaks. It is called "premier love" and is pretty damn hilarious! Here is the You Tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oID5xu3pXis

Here are a few pictures of my apartment and the view from outside the FB office. I'll take a few more as I wander through more neighborhoods in the upcoming weeks. I pretty much live in the coolest neighborhood of the coolest city on earth. Now I have to get to work! I can't get into the archives for another few days so I've been working on my Arabic. I can now read and write and halfway pronounce three letters of the Arabic alphabet - it's slow going with these semitic languages. I may be able to read a few sentences by the time I'm 50 years old (that's the goal at least!)

Finalement à Paris

Well I'm finally in Paris after all that buildup. My apartment is lovely with the exception of the lack of wireless internet. Unfortunately the last tenant (from Harvard) apparently skipped out on several hundred Euros worth of DSL bills and my landlady is not at all willing to let me get wireless in here. After a fruitless search for free wireless in my neighborhood, I have to come up with a better plan.

I will post some pics as soon as I take some and as soon as I have a fast enough internet connection!
I miss you all lots and lots!

The Beginning

Well it's just two days before I leave for Paris to enjoy some pain et vin in the Marais. Unfortunately the weight limits of my luggage are cramping my style and I'm leaving out some important clothing items to make room for my dictionaries and important books like Love in a Cold Climate. I would never even consider moving one state away, much less across the pond, without my Mitford Sisters.

But it's lovely being ABD. Today my most important project was to determine whether I looked more intellectual or European with my reading glasses or my distance glasses. This is a very important decision. I am including the pictures below so that you can vote.

For those of you who don't know, the name of my blog comes from the question I am most often asked when in France and someone asks my name. While it sounds very exotic in the United States and even vaguely exotic in the Netherlands, in France "Fontaine" just means "fountain." So when I say my name, they all say "Fontaine, you mean like 'fountain'?" and I reply "oui, exactement." Then they usually assume, despite my weird Jane-Austen-like first name, that I am French and I have to explain, "no, in fact, my father was a Dutch immigrant to the United States who changed the name from its original 'Fontijn' to something more pronouncable like 'Fontaine'." And they get really bummed out. My friend Antoine's mother has decided that in fact my ancestors were French Huguenots who fled to the Netherlands to escape the wrath of Louis XIV's revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, but that originally they existed in perfect harmony somewhere in central France, thanks to Henry IV's compromise with his wicked mother-in-law." (See Rachel, I do know some Early Modern history!)

So there you have it - the entire linguistic background of my last name and inspiration for many a European fantasy. So off I go to my FB fun (the you-know-what program is now codenamed FB to avoid those pesky RSS spies in the archives). Bon voyage à moi!

So which ones make me look smarter?

Reading glasses:

Distance glasses: