s a l u t a t i o n s

i apologize for not updating sooner. internet things have been erratic, but are now fixed. i still don't have any photos on my computer - but hopefully will soon.

lately... i moved back to seattle and settled into my room. i like my room mucho mucho, its nice and comfy with an amazing light set up in the closet that makes me smile everytime i have to get dressed. i do have pictures of that now... i'll try and get them up later.

and... i have decent classes. i like the roman polanski class the best, for more reasons than one- but it is / he is (roman) really interesting. and its easy. thats always nice. the hitchcock class is good, but i keep falling asleep in class for reasons i can't really figure out-and it might not count for credit, which would be a load of crap, but i still have enough time to get in the classes i need before i graduate. and the wildland public management class is pretty interesting, but i'm not sure how much i really like it. it also has the most reading, which makes it last on my list.

Diet Coke has changed their bottlecaps - and while i like the new design, they seem to slip from my fingers easier and i have a difficult time putting them back on.

ok. hope everybody had a good holiday time. i did.

My parisien family

Meet Brigitte and Rica, my host mom and the Japanese student who lives with us.
I'll put up more pictures as soon as i can. :) 

France 2 (not the french television station, just my second post...)

(a joke no one will get but me.) (all the TV stations here are FR1, FR2, FR3, FR4... etc.)

anyway. france is fun still. i still feel bad because i have to pictures to post cuz i cant connect my camera (hint hint, zach?). but life has been pretty great.

i guess a lot of people in our class dont have the best families to live with, or like they don't feed them very well or dont really take time to talk to them. whereas our lady is absolutely insane. in a good way. she's like 51 or 52.... and she dances and sings all the time (like marilyn monroe most frequently, "i love be love by you.... la la ... i love be love by you... la la... boo boo bee doo!) and she has shown us her entire collection of lingerie, which was.... interesting. She admonishes me for wearing too much black... and she has this insanely raspy voice because shes smokes like a chimney a lot of the time. Her two sons come by sometimes, Gyom and Jerome, they're pretty fun. and then her husband Richard is around monday-wednesday nights. Then he leaves for the country for the weekend. but he cooks when he's home. And she leaves for the country saturday afternoon so were on our own (me, morgan, and the japanese girl Rika who we love, shes hysterical) every weekend, which is actually really nice because then we can have a little break from just the stress of living with people who you are trying subconciously to impress or something. But Brigitte is super nice and we have these really long 4 course meals every night where she talks a lot. its been really good for my comprehension of french. my spoken french is definitely getting better too, but not as good as my listening because brigitte does more talking than listening. :) and next friday night we're all going out dancing with her friends for her birthday, which should be a blast. i don't think i can feel silly or embarresed if brigitte is dancing next to me. so. thats all pretty awesome. and i really like moran a lot as a friend/roommate. i get along with people pretty well when i live with them.

um.... nutella crepes are insanely addicting.

it is impossible to be in paris and not be affected stylistically. i feel bad because i've spent more money on clothes than i meant to, but i finally feel like i fit in and i don't need to buy anything else to complete my new "ensembles." and i bought more outfits in colors, so brigitte will be happy. anyway. i apoligize to my parents for spending more money than i should have, but i think i don't need to buy anymore clothes now, so thats good. thats a craving thats been fulfilled. alors, bien.

and i'm planning on going to rome the first weekend in november and hanging out with becky a bit. i think i'll end up flying there, and then taking the train back, which is kind of the best of both worlds, yeah? yeah.

ok. this is long and my internet time is running out. i'll try and write more often, even though i have no pictures. and if you would like to recieve a postcard from me, and i havent sent one yet or havent told you i'm sending you one yet, send me an email (rileyk@u.washington.edu) with your address and i'll try and get one to you:).

OK. i love you all and hope you're having fun, too.

OUI OUI, PARIS!

bonjour tous! i'm about finished with my solitary stint in the city of lights. i wanted to have a picture to post, but my camera is not playing nice with my computer, so that will have to wait. this isn't going to be a very long post, either - i'll write more later for those of you who care to read.

Paris is.... cool chic impressive old overwhelming stressful beautiful friendly complex. i do totally know now that if there is only one other person in the room you are walking into, you have to say "bonjour." its polite. and then you say "bonjour" or "au revoir" again when you leave. which is nice. and the city is very very safe, there are little to no homeless people or beggers, so i never feel afraid or creeped out. actually, the part of town where my hotel is probably the worst area i've been in so far.

and i dont think the city smells. yes, occassionaly if you go past a dog park then it stinks to high heaven. but as a whole, its an impressively clean city.

ok. i will hopefully post something much longer and more illustrated within the next couple of days. salut.

hhhhhaaaaaaaaaalaska!

yay for being home. and in kaladi using wifi. yay for working and making art and hot chocolate made with enough chocolate. tis good. and watching shit loads of movies. and 'the office' - the original british version, which is, yes, clyde and jessica, very very good. and not even too uncomfortable for me to stand. anyway. jessica- i think i lost your email again. maybe i will send you a text message and ask you it and the address of your blog. yes. sometime soon here i will do that. so. i dont really have anything exciting to report. i've just kind of been hanging out at home and doing art/watching movies.... relaxing. which has been really really nice. and i start work today. which will be cool, too. i'm not working too much, so that should be nice. and if i actually sell everything in my show (which is unlikely), i could make like $500. wouldn't that be awesome. yes. yes it would.

ok. not much to say else. but man its been a long time since i read a story :(. will have to do that today :) . ooohk. (<--- the everlasting remenant of my strange friendship with bobby utrup. i tend to write "ohk" instead of "ok.") (at least online.)

bluaaaaaahhhh

apparently thats how i feel right now.

so.... lately:

-jenn came to visit, we (JHR) went to a little awesome italian restraunt monday night and had a really long relaxing dinner, like 3.5 hours or something. but it was way cool. and then yesterday we.... went shopping downtown a little and bought my cat a new carrier for his trip home. she left for LA this morning.
- i've skipped more french than i care to think about. Mostly just from other constraints on my time and stuff, like today i worked in the coffee stand instead of going to french... but it was the day after a test, so i figured it was ok. (i've "figured" all my absences are "ok" but i still feel bad in a cumulative sort of sense.) But apparently i did really well on my oral presentation, because i got a 98/100. i got a 95 on the first one, so yay for improvement.
- i alternate between feeling okay and not stressed out and feeling crazy because i have SO much to do before i can go home in TEN DAYS. FUCK. now is a stressed time.
- i'm in a jazz history class with only 8 people, and 2 teachers. its really fun. but i wish i had more time to invest in it and the reading/listening, etc. but we (RJy) to Tulas sunday night and heard a jazz band (i had to write a paper on a concert), which was fun.
- and Don, my ex-trombone teacher and current jazz teacher, is moving to denmark in 2 weeks- which means he'll totally be there and doing concerts while i'm in Paris. So we're gonna meet up or something, which is cool.
- i finally got my living assignment for paris ! yay! i'm going to live in this building:



which is here:



So thats all very exciting. And i'm going to be living with a family, i haven't called them yet. And another girl who's a freshman who likes to snowboard, etc... but she's been in paris all summer with another program... so i'm not sure what to think about all that yet.

aaaaaaand. tonight is project runway! yay! and i've frozen some koolaid for myself, so i'm so looking forward to that. yay for frozen super kool-aid!

bye everyone. i'll write again when i get back to alaska and have time to think.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!