Mari's Paris

2009-04-14T19:56:00.001+02:00

En mørk kveld i Paris' roligere gater....

2009-04-04T01:45:00.006+02:00

In the park by Sacre Coeur with Tine.

In Pere Lachaise with my mom, sister and great aunt.

The great manifestation! Or one of them, anyways. God the French like to demonstrate.

And more fun...

2009-03-12T23:46:00.003+01:00

Joachim.

Julie.

But I do have fun too...

2009-03-12T23:30:00.004+01:00

Alex & MariSafari at Miss Kittin, Social Club.

Danse chez nous.

Waiting is hard...

2009-03-10T14:42:00.003+01:00

As many of you may have picked up on already, I am not very fond of my job here in Paris.

I am a waitress at a chain café called Indiana and it is amazing how hard work it is. I am tired all the time and the only thing I want to do my two days off a week, is lie in bed and let my body heal. Because it hurts all the time. I have never had a problem with my hands before, but carrying this plateau with lots of plates and glasses every day has given me issues. It hUrts!

I was for a months thinking about whether I should get a new job, and tried - unsuccessfully - but I have come to the conclusion that I'm only staying here 'til June anyways, and I think I can bear it for another couple of months. Because: 1. My family arrives today and I have a whole week off!!! 2. I'll be going to London i April!!! (if I can get time off...). 3. Malin is coming to visit me in April!!! And after April I only have a few weeks left of work before I go to Madrid to celebrate my aunts 50th birthday.

So I think I can hang in there. I mean I do still love Paris.

So yesterday I was sitting outside at one of my favorite café's, Café Charlot when two men who sat next to me started talking to me. They were wondering whether I was American or what, but and got really excited when I said I was Norwegian. Turned out one of them had traveled the world with two Norwegian girls a long, long time ago, and it also turned out that they came from Tromsø! The world just continues to grow smaller....

2009-01-16T00:02:00.005+01:00

2009-01-15T23:55:00.008+01:00

Hello.

I'm back.

Found some pictures I took of and near the Tour Eiffel. Enjoy!

2008-12-02T23:21:00.008+01:00

2008-11-20T19:15:00.002+01:00

Ok, I haven't updated this in about five years, so I figure it's about time... First I guess I should explain why.

Since I came back from Copenhagen I have tried to work as much as possible with school at the same time as maintaining my social life which both requires a certain amount of time and energy. I'm not at all fluent in French yet, and what with it being fall I get tired really fast so when I have spare time I prefer to spend it doing nothing. Meaning: I really haven't done too much worth writing about and I haven't taken that many pictures.

But one thing is definitely worth writing about: A week ago one of my best friends, Sara, came to visit me! We ventured around Paris and did a little bit of shopping, but not too much as we were both short in the money department (especially me after living a little bit too extravagantly the month before). We went to some of the obvious tourist sites where I hadn't been yet, Notre Dame and Sacre Ceure, where Sara felt a huge rage towards the church and their hypocrisy. This, of course, provoked heated, one sided discussions and we were filled with each others love for one another.

Now it is only three weeks 'til exams, so I can't promise too many updates from now on either. But at least now you know I'm still alive and in Paris.

Hearts.

2008-10-16T22:18:00.003+02:00

I'm in Copenhagen now with my very good friend Eirik. I got to see my dad and uncle today who thought my kissing on both cheeks when meeting and going was very funny and international. I'll meet up with my little sister and mother tomorrow and I'm looking forward to it so much!! My sister turns 15 on saturday and I'm going to give her the best birthday EVER! I'm excited and enjoying life so much. I love Copenhagen. I think I'll move here after I've learned French so well that I feel I don't have to practice every day to improve.

Bisous.

2008-10-13T00:28:00.003+02:00

On wednesday we went to Versailles and had fun in the castle, gardens and at Marie Antoinette's farm.

Joakim, Vilde and I had lunch on the stairs.

I was in a very strange mood this day, but had A LOT of fun with it. This was right next to Marie Antoinette's secret love cave.

One day we went out.

Thanks to Bernt and Mia for photos.

2008-10-13T00:16:00.003+02:00

I'm going to Copenhagen in just two days!! Very excited to see my family and one of my best friends, Eirik.

2008-10-03T17:19:00.007+02:00

A couple of Thursdays it was my friend Maja's birthday, and in that occasion Vilde, Charlotte, Frode and I made a pinata. Yes, we made it. And it became beautiful. We bought loads of candy and little gadgets for her, filled it and hung it sincerely unstably in Maja, Frode, Charlotte and Elisabeth's apartment (where I almost live seeing as it's much more central than my place and they let me). The surprise was genuine and they still have about three pounds of candy waiting to be eaten.

Here's some photos from the pinata making scene:

Frode asks: How do we want it to look?

Charlotte says: Like this.

Vilde says: No, Charlotte, we can't make it look like that, wrinkly noses are hard to do in papier maché.

Frode says: No. And he starts to cut.

The pinata says: You're not photographing from my best angle.

And Charlotte is excited.

2008-10-01T08:32:00.003+02:00

Oh, this is horrible, I don't have time to update this blog at all these days!! I could always write little, and I want to post a lot of pictures, but they're not ready yet.

I just went to Normandie with my school for a couple of days which was really nice. I went to see Monet's house and garden, and stopped in lots of small pretty French cities. Perhaps I'll work on the photographs tomorrow...

The thing about having enough time doing this is I usually stay out for a couple of hours after school, then it takes me at least an hour to get home, and after that I have to do homework. But I'll try to get it done tomorrow.

By the way, I saw this in my friend's facebook album and laughed:

Produced by Bianca M. Lorentzen.

2008-09-23T08:49:00.002+02:00

I'm sorry I haven't posted anything the past fifty days. My excuse is that I still haven't got a small digital camera, and I don't want to drag around with my huge digital camera with school books and what not. So I haven't been able to take photos of my adventures just yet. But I can tell you I went out this weekend to two different clubs; one called The Social Club up by my school (close to Grand Boulevard), and another one called Point Effemere in Belleville. It was a lot of fun, and I would definitely go back to Point Effemere soon.

I'll tell more later, now it's time for school!

2008-09-16T08:13:00.002+02:00

Update of the day:

Vilde is staying in my petite maison with my housemates and I for the next two weeks. It's kind of funny to see how many people we can have fit in here before it explodes. We were thinking of starting a hostel so we can earn some money off of it. Under the table, of course, we can't risk any of the money disappearing to the French gov't what with it being right wing and all.

Ma maison.

2008-09-15T00:12:00.006+02:00

Here is the outside of my house:

I live on top of these steps.

My house mate Marthe got shite in her shoes. Therefore they have been sitting outside the past few days. Perhaps the rain will come and clean them for her.

I walk under these stairs every day. They are very pretty.

Studying Yop Pompidou

2008-09-14T23:58:00.006+02:00

The school I go to is an intensive course in French language including art history. So we study. A lot. On Tuesday we studied outside of the Pompidou centre, which is the museum of modern art in Paris. It also has a library, which was what we were aiming for, but turned out (after walking for about an hour to find it) that it's only open every day. Except Tuesday. So we layed on the ground outside and tried to translate an old French short story from the 1920's.

We drank Yop with our homework. It is the new it thing to drink. It's very filling and very cheap. Perfect for the student economy. Helene and Frode were very happy with this.

Helene got tired of studying and was sceptic to my picture taking. I said just wait and see. Now I'll wait and see what she says.

Vilde ended up jumping around as always. We did a tango. It was a nice end to our effective study session.

2008-09-14T17:22:00.002+02:00

School is much more demanding than I thought it would be. Hence the lack of posts.

In a few minutes I'll be joining these fine femmes dans la Jardin du Luxembourgh in Montparnasse:

As a little update I went to a club/bar type thing on Friday with some friends, called Flesh Do (maybe...) way in the outskirts of Paris. datA played and I must say I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. He played a lot of fun dance music, but in between good electronic songs he would mix in Usher and such, not to my liking.

Yesterday we went to the l'Ópera and saw the New York City Ballet. Here too I was kind of disappointed, as two of the choreographies were very "show offey" with typical tutu's and ballet moves. Impressive physically, but with very little feeling. One of the three choreographies was very good however, but I still felt like the surprising elements a choreography should have were missing.

En kveld i Belleville.

2008-09-11T00:30:00.011+02:00

In Belleville windows aren't as pretty as in le Marais.

Last night Vilde, Elisabeth, Kristin, Vivian, Hege and I went out for dinner in Belleville. We had thai food. Here are some underexposed photos from our journey:

Vilde.

Elisabeth. Or Snow White, whichever you prefer.

Kristin.

Some artwork on a wall. These aren't working men, they're made of wax or something.

2008-09-08T19:10:00.003+02:00

The unfinished wall of my bathroom.

A trash can in Le Marais.

2008-09-08T01:11:00.002+02:00

The past two days have been really nice, but I'm so tired from it I really just want to sleep now, not write and upload photos. I think I'll make a list of everything I need to write about tomorrow. Yesterday and today consisted of:

- Sightseeing with the school Saturday afternoon. Including lunch in Le Petit Palais (which is huge).

- Going to a fancy dinner with the school eating and drinking on the schools bill.

- Going out in Paris to completely full bars and getting to know two French boys who didn't know English. That was good because I got to practice.

- Staying out 'til six before going back to Vilde's place on Montmartre for sleeping.

- Having breakfast with Vilde at 2 pm sunday afternoon.

- Going to Europe's largest flee market in Clignancourt north in Paris.

- Having relaxing ice cream and a cup of tea in a cute café on Ile Saint Louise (I think it's called...).

- Meeting up with friends in the park by the Eiffel Tower for a nighttime picnic. We also met up with a guy from Israel who is staying in the city for a bit. He was very cool and we played the bongos and danced on the grass.

- The end.

A day in Paris.

2008-09-06T00:33:00.004+02:00

I started school today. !!!. And I met my new housemates. !!!.

Started the day by sneaking through my housemates' bedroom while they were sleeping to get to our bathroom to have a shower. Then decided it would make too much noise and probably wake them up. So I just brushed my teeth and put on the phurrr hat so no one could see my non-washed hair. After I'd met the girls and we'd had breakfast I regreted this decision very much. Unfortunately the morning had reached its point of no return as the other two still hadn't had their showers and we had to leave in half an hour to make it to school in time.

We made it. Got to meet our teachers. Unfortunately I have two very handsome French men as literature and history teachers.

After this we went to have lunch with the school. I wanted an americano before the food, so I ordered one. Turns out, in France an americano isn't coffee. Not at all. Especially not before the food. It's a huge glass of campari with bits of lemon and orange with LOTS of sugar glued around the edge. Ew. This was at noon. I really was not ready for something like that. When the waiter understood that this wasn't what I'd tried to order he encouraged me to drink it and said it was very very good. Don't know what he did to his tongue, but something must have been wrong with him because that WAS NOT GOOD. Of course one of the handsome french teachers had to come over right after and talk to us. He clearly saw my apertiff so I had to stumble away in French and explain the situation (as we were not supposed to order alcohol on the schools bill...).*

Before taking a sip of my Americano.

After. Or maybe in between. Not sure.

Nothing as exciting as this happened for the rest of the day really. I got to talking with one of the teachers for French 1 (I'm doing French 2) who's name is Eirik. He's been living in Paris for a year and a half, speaks French really well, goes to Sorbonne and works at the Norwegian embassy. Very inspiring and such a nice guy.

We also got tickets for the New York Ballet at the Bastille Opera next Saturday. We won't see much, but it'll be worth the 10 euros still.

Vilde and I drank tea at this super cute cocktail bar-turned-café-in-the-day on Montmartre. Sofas with big, soft pillows, wobbly tables and a bartender who couldn't speak English. I really like it when they can't speak English because then I have to force myself even harder to speak French. I learned a new word. Miel = Honey.* I also went shopping for groceries today, and, turns out, grocery shops here don't give out plastic bags. You can buy them, but preferably you should bring your own. I find this very discriminating towards all students moving about. This means we all have to buy plastic bags for our trash! Maybe we'll just quit throwing things away and swim in it instead...

These thoughts tell me I should go to sleep. Good night.

*Flause #1.

*I ordered mynthe tea.

Bisous.

There are lots of Vespa's in Paris. I took photos of one in Le Marais.

2008-09-05T23:52:00.004+02:00

Varieties of Vilde.

2008-09-05T00:45:00.009+02:00

I got a new friend. Her name is Vilde. She is not French. But she is still very nice. Here she is:

I took these today after an inspirational trip to a photo exhibition of Annie Leibovitz.

Some pictures I took the last days in Tromsø.

2008-09-04T23:32:00.011+02:00

Malin with me one of my last days in Tromsø.

Malin with her fingers.

Christian with his loving smile.

Matthew with his new sunglasses.

Me with my new phurrr. Taken by Stine. I think. It might be by Matthew.

Stine with sand in her socks.

Kåre with his barbeque skills.

2008-09-04T11:42:00.002+02:00

Yesterday I did nothing but walk around. I walked and walked and walked. From Musée d'Orsay, over the Seine, past Jardin des Tuileries. Further past Grand Palais, heading towards Palais de Tokyo. I turn onto a main street at a very relaxed speed, Charles de Gaulle Étoile as my goal, and a funny feeling hits me: I'm walking up George V in my 10 euros a piece ensemble, surrounded by Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Kenzo, Armani, Hermés, Sonia Rykiel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianfranco Ferre and Louis Vuitton. And I feel very comfortable. I'm enjoying not going in, not affording, just looking. Window shopping has suddenly become just as fun as the art of shopping itself, if not more so. Fashionable men and women hurry past me in tight suits and high (HIGH) heels and give me strange looks as I smile at them. An occasional "bonjour" leaves my lips and I am lucky to get one back what with all this hastyness. But I do get "bonjours" back. And I love Paris even more.

ma mere et moi.

2008-09-04T00:21:00.006+02:00

photo by my mama.

Á Paris.

2008-09-03T20:04:00.010+02:00

I finally got a place to live! It's a house of fifty-something square meters, and the land lords live right next door. They're lovely and keep an AMAZING garden!!! Outside my door there are stairs going up and down with flowers draped everywhere just like in the french fantasy. The house is located in Malakoff which is kind of an almost-suburb of Paris. Meaning: Not far away enough for it to be a suburb, but it still isn't in the city. The neighborhood is populated by both young and older people, and seems to be very quiet and safe, which is nice.

So that was a little about my living situation maintenant. Below are some pictures I took while sightseeing avec ma mère a couple of days ago. It was lovely to have a few days with her in the beginning so I didn't have to start all by myself. She's left for England now, but I've got to know a girl I'll be going to school with who it seems like is very similar to me. So I think you'll be seeing a few pictures of her in the future. But for now, Mari's Paris:

Sacre Ceure.

Speaks for itself.

View of Montmartre from Sacre Ceure.

View of Tour Montparnasse and the rest of Paris from Montmartre.

A window in my favorite neighborhood: Le Marais.

Latin Quarter.

Latin quarter; beautiful, boring and expensive food.

Warning:

2008-09-03T20:03:00.000+02:00

Today there will be many posts.

2008-09-01T18:35:00.001+02:00

I am now in Paris and have been for a few days. I will be ,oving in to my apartment tomorrow so ill update this more then. I am off to dinner in Marais!!

Next time.... In Paris!!

2008-08-28T23:55:00.002+02:00

Hello hello hello hello....

I'm leaving Tromsø in eight hours. I'm excited and nervous!! I can feel my tawnsils swelling up. Damn it! I still haven't finished packing, but I'm on it. Hope to be done so I can go to bed soon.

Next time I write something here I'll be in Paris! Whoa.

Winter wonders.

2008-08-26T09:38:00.018+02:00

Old winter wonders in the land of winter Norway.

Last picture taken by Christian Bjørnø, the man in the photo above.

Juergen Teller.

2008-08-25T13:30:00.004+02:00

One of my favourite photographers is the now quite famous Juergen Teller. He's been responsible for Marc Jacobs' minimalistic party/the day after look since 2005 and only uses 35mm cameras. Apparently the Olympus O-Product is a favorite and to my liking he claims not to be very technical. I always knew, but now it's proven that good photographers don't have to be good technicians. So huzzah for me!!

Town house to fall in love with.

2008-08-25T13:00:00.004+02:00

I finally got an apartment! Or, actually, it's not even an apartment, it's a townhouse. It's located on top of Montparnasse, ten minutes away from Gare Montparnasse. Walking distance to Jadin du Luxemburg as well. Very happy with that.

Doesn't it look pretty? The inside looks pretty nice too, but I think I'll have to do something about the furnishing before I post pictures of it... I'm so excited!! In the mornings I'll sit on the steps surrounded by flowers, drinking tea with a copy of French Vogue. Ssssst yes, only four days 'til I go!!!

Thrift store girls and other important activities.

2008-08-22T19:28:00.005+02:00

So today I only did important things:

- Found old music I forgot I had.
- Listened to it.
- Got a new bank account and ordered a card for it.
- Called my French appartment finder and complained about his late being.
- Went to the dentist and filled a cavity. Half of my face was numb for five hours. Whoopidoo.
- Had a good bye coffee with my good friend.
- Now I am working to earn a good enough capital to at least be able to live on noodles whilst in the city of love.

I also found these which is very important. To me.

They're photos from a sieries Brian Ulrich did for Vice Magazine about thrift store girls. At first glance I wasn't too impressed, but thinking about it, these kind of photo threads always include really fashionable girls with creative street wear and what not. The girls in these shots seemed to be lost in a world of heavily used items clearily more attractive to the garbage bin than on the back of an average fashionista. Behind the scenes so to speak. Or? I'm not sure, but I like the concept of portreying a backside to the vintage shopping trend.

Which I am a huge fan of and think is amazing and will never stop doing...!
¨

The backyard of Paris.

2008-08-20T11:03:00.002+02:00

It's no joke.

Á bientôt!

2008-08-19T13:40:00.003+02:00

I am leaving in a week and a half and I'm scared shitless. Plus really really excited. The school still hasn't found an apartment for me to live in, so I'm wondering whether I'll be homeless for the first month. I don't like the sound of it, especially in a city full of people I don't know...

I'm also postponing my packing, although I really don't see any reason to start packing more than a week in advance. So that one passes with flying colors.

It's the end of my living in Tromsø, and I feel really bad that I am spending my time working, and not hanging out with my family. But I'm going to need the money to survive.

Anywho, 'til later, ya'll.

À bientôt!

Loving, laughing, working, working, working.

2008-08-07T14:02:00.005+02:00

So as you can see on a post below I've been a week away from home down in the eastern part of Norway. I came back on Tuesday, and today is my first day of work since Monday before last. Which is fine, and I'm kind of looking forward to bartending again, but I'm SIIICK! I've been coughing all of July and now that it stopped of course my tawnsils are swollen. Which is worse. Right now it's not so bad, I'm drinking the ancient remedy of green lemon tea with extra lemon and lots of honey, which actually seems to be working. But my problems will arrive hard and fast if this gets worse. See, I have night shift today, night shift tomorrow and opening shifts the two days after that. It's not that all the other people working in the bar haven't done this before when they were sick, but I still feel sorry for myself. Specially if my tawnsils swell up more because that will bring with it speaking, breathing and swallowing disabilities. Huzzah. Complain, complain, complain.

Actually I don't feel too complainy, my mood is really like this:

(Taken by Rosemary O'Kane)

This picture was, by the way, taken outside a huge sports shop in Seattle called REI. I would like to point out how happy I look. I'm never happy in or outside of a sports shop.

I'm Poppy.

2008-08-06T18:23:00.005+02:00

I've been watching, laughing and adoring the duo in Mighty Boosh since last summer when Old Greg entered my bedroom. A long time ago they came out with a short film called Sweet which, if possible, is even funnier then the series.

It's been at festivals and has won awards including:

Winner Kodak Short Film Showcase 2002

Winner TCM Awards 2001

Winner F.A.C.E Award(Film Award for Cinematic Excellence) 2001

BAFTA Nominated Best Short 2001

55th Cannes Film Festival, International Critics Week 2002

Watch it and laugh 'til you cry:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiO2jbwL98E

Moving. Wondering. Friendship. French.

2008-08-06T15:25:00.001+02:00

So I'm thinking about everything that'll happen when I move. Everyone seems to be moving at the moment, and I'm wondering who I'll be able to keep in touch with ad who will remain Tromsonian friends I only see if I'm at home at the same time as them. I have moved around the world a few times before so I know very well how this works. You keep in touch with a good amount of people the first four months, but after that everyone (including yourself, if you're content in the new place) gets used to the fact that you're gone and it reduces to the ones who were closest in the end. If you're good at keeping in touch, that is. Which I thankfully am. It's been three years since I came home after living in Seattle for a year and I still talk to my friends over there ever so often. I stayed there for a month last summer, and even met up with a few of them in San Francisco this March.

I'll be living in a flat with French and international students in the heart of Paris. I'm going to buy a bike. This will be my first purchase. Une volé. C'est correct? Je ne sais pas. My mom will be coming with me for the first couple of days, before school starts. I find this very strategic as she can bring some of my clothes I won't have room for. Eh? Good.

The 29th of August is my planned moving date so anyone living or vacationing in Paris between then and December should most certainly contact me.

<3>

Træna festival: From last year until forever.

2008-08-06T12:33:00.003+02:00

Trænafestivalen is probably the most beautiful festival location in the world. It's on a small island many miles off the coast of Northern Norway, and if you go there once, you'll most cirtainly come back next year. We did, Sara and I. We came as dj's in 2007 and this summer, 2008, we brought with us our third head who loved it just as much as us. Pincus is the latest addition to Belle & Donatella and the three of us will dance 'til the sun goes down. Which it never does in the summer in Northern Norway, so you get my drift.

(All photos taken by Sara.)

Last year we were originally placed in a lavvo with thirteen snoring dudes so a couple of non-snoring dudes offered us shelter in a huge house with them and the beautiful Rockettothesky. It ended up a great success and we decided they're some of the coolest people we've ever met. I miss Vegard's jacket!

Sturla and I trying to imitate and elephant.

Getting ready for take off.

Heartfelt summer in Eastern Norway. Hot tip: GO HERE!

2008-08-06T01:06:00.001+02:00

This is the coolest cow I have ever seen. If I were this cool, I wouldn't know where to put myself. Kind of glad I'm not this cool actually.

The coolest crooks on the corner looking cooler than you do cooking. Hells yeah. But not as cool as the cow. Alas. (Taken by Hanna)

People were amazed by my blindingly white skin at Tjøme. The place to have the ultimate beach experience in Norway, by the way.

Before going out in Oslo: Always leave your phuurr hat at home. It can get very dancy at unexpected moments. It did this night. I still managed to pull it off for a while though. In Paris it will be seen very frequently, I am sure. (Taken by Sara)

2008-07-28T12:42:00.000+02:00

Photographic memories of the last couple of years in Norway.

Hanging out with Christian, painting t-shirts and building snow caves will be missed greatly. It actually already is.

Testing the lighting before a photoshoot with the Ghestapo Bitches for the paper Grus. Turned out to be my first cover shoot. (Taken by Daniel Andersson)

Georgeous Marianne a couple of winters ago. We decided to photoshoot one afternoon we randomly ran into each other in the street (like you do pretty much every day downtown Tromsø). It got vet cold, but we got some good shots out of it.

Åsne listening to music during a bbboooring class.

Stine and I doing nothing for a whole day. It was very nice.

Erik being his badass self.

Eir and I being Velma Kelly and Roxie Heart. (Taken by Lars Mustasj)

Malin and I thinking that maybe, if we sit here long enough thinking about it, fish will jump out of the water and we won't even need a rod to catch them. (Taken by Stine Andreassen)

Tone's winter look.

Band practice with the hard core boys.

Christina in one of our first productions together.

One of Sara and my first gigs as djs. (Taken by Daniel Andersson)

2008-07-26T17:17:00.001+02:00

Stuff I'll miss.

"Who will be working when" - list from my wonderful job at Verdensteateret.

Fantastic "trying to drive burglars out of area" note by the river in Oslo.

My pretty lamp. It was actively trying to catch a fire, so I had to throw it away.

My dad and I at Hella (a good place for fishing up here) a couple years back...

One month to go....

2008-07-26T16:13:00.000+02:00

In just a little over one month I'll be heading off to live in my favorite city in the world, Paris. Anxiety hasn't kicked in just yet, but I'm sure that when I start packing and have to choose between my materialistic goods I'll have a hard time relaxing. Also the moving away from home kind of frightens me as I have a fHantastic relationship with my parents. But as my aunt said: "If you don't go now, you'll end up staying forever". So I am. Going. And the excitement is grabbing hold of me so hard I almost feel nauseous.