#chapter 11 DONE and POSTED i am a CHAMP!!!!

[thebirdandhersong]

YYYYYYYEAAAAAAAAAH

[onthevirgeofdestruction]

35 Q’s for Fanfic Writers

From this post

I’m having a shitty, rude alter-y, crap night so I’m just going to answer all of these to distract myself and focus and to not bother anybody just making my own post and putting it under the cut btw, notice to anyone not aware: since I’m moving I won’t likely be updating anything until I’m done doing so.

1. From one to five stars, how would you rate your writing?  (No downplaying yourself!) 3/5? Could use more editing and description and can be weirdly paced.

2. Why do you write fanfiction? Because it’s better than focusing on pain 24/7. 

3. What do you think makes your writing stand out from other works? I don’t seem to have a specific narrative voice that people recognize but I’m pretty proud of mostly organic dialogue. 

4. Are there any writers that inspire you? as a rule i never look up to anybody for inspiration but there’s some stuff in my ao3 bookmarks I fawn over.

5. What’s the fic you’re most proud of? Right now, none of them. It changes normally, anyway. If get too proud then I’d get my ass kicked by RSD if someone didn’t like it so it’s safer this way

6. What element of writing do you find comes easily? Dialogue. 

7. What element of writing do you struggle with most? Organic description, poetic language kind of stuff. I can paint a scene but I’m not so great with bring out out a feeling with description alone.

8. Which character(s) do you find easiest to write? Janus and Virgil are probably tied. They both have things I struggle with but I don’t have to go back and do much adjusting of language and tone with them. Though admittedly my Virgil is signifigantly more foul-mouthed than canon and I tend to prefer pre-AA feral asshole Virgil.

9. Which character(s) do you find most difficult to write? Patton. I write him the least, so people can probably tell. I love Patton, I really do, but it’s so hard to keep away from fanon Patton. 

10. What’s your favorite genre to write for? Angst w/ H/C obviously. Or if you’re talking about regular book genres, Fantasy. I fucking love fantasy world building.

11. Who or what do you find yourself writing about most? Trauma. I blame Daeram. As if Ayri isn’t a giant Angst Demon.

12. Tell us about a WIP you’re excited about. Slopes. I’m really into it. I’ve got three one shots running right now. Patrons can read the first part of the unnamed cat remus one, there’s also a coffeeshop au tropey nonsense one like eglantine & lycoris, but Slopes is addiction angst. Mmmmm. Virgil is addicted to coke and alcohol and will listening to his friends even be in time? Who knows, especially not me, but there’s already over 30k. 

13. First fandom you ever wrote for? InuYasha. Or was it Harry Potter? Or shit, The Blue Sword? Fuck, I’ve been writing for a long time, I really have no idea.

14. What’s your favorite fandom to write for? Sanders Sides. The characters are the perfect dynamic for writing since they exist in balance of each other and the popular, easy to project on archetypes featured are incredibly fun to do basically any scenario with.

15. What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve ever written for? Weird storywise? Kingdom Hearts? I can’t even follow the plot anymore. Weird Fandomwise? Sanders Sides. Its simultainiously the fluffiest and angstiest nonsense at the same time.

16. Any guilty pleasure trope(s)? Vampires. Gay ones. Gay Vampires. I also love calm tol and angy smol.

17. A trope you’ll never, ever write for. Any tropes that normalize incredibly toxic behaviour or tropes that are inherantly ableist, but I can’t think of any.

18. Wildest fic you’ve ever written? Incorrigible continues to be complete nonsense.

19. Do you prefer canon-compliant, AUs, or something in-between? AUs. I mean closest I even have is canon-divergence other than a single short.

20. Gen fic or shippy stuff? I like it when there is gay nonsense along with a plot that is treated as more important than the relationship the most. But I like both. There’s more shippy stuff in tss so i read more shipping action by default.

21. Favorite pairing to write for? (platonic or romantic!) Anxceit/Sleepxiety, but in general, give me darksides or give me death/j

22. Do you listen to anything while you write? Almost everything I write has a special playlist I listen to to help me write it, but otherwise I listen to my Nyan playlist, an alter is picking the tunes, or a voidfam playlist. I never have music off. When my internet is down I just listen to the songs I own or Anxiety’s theme on loop.

23. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas? I’m fine with all of them. I love working with prompts but I tend to deviate. And I’ve never done a challenge since I can’t do deadlines and bad things happen bingo never sent me a card and I applied three times.

24. One-shots or multi-chaptered works? I am generally multi-chaptered stuff, but I’ve been working on a few one-shots lately that are much longer than most one shots.

25. Have you ever daydreamed about side adventures/spin-offs from your fic? Tell us about them! I was originally thinking of doing some little 13-year-old Dreaming!Roman (y’know, the one with a job) shorts but it turns out I just had an alter of that little bastard and that’s why I inexplicably know more about him then I ever even considered. I still might do them after Dreaming is done. But that’s paced so slowly who knows when that might happen. Otherwise I put stuff in my notes and just do shorts of it if I’m like “oh you know what’s cool???” but since I can’t daydream maybe this question doesn’t apply to me.

26. Is there anything you’ve wanted to write, but you’ve been too scared to try? I want to do more autism stuff, and I’ve had it demanded a few times, but I’m scared of being that explict about it for some reason. Possibly because I might be, possibly because I’m scared of doing it wrong even though I’ve accidentally coded multiple characters autistic. I’m scared of explictly tagging them as such, too. 

27. What’s the nicest comment you’ve ever received? That I can remember off the top of my head? I’m going with one from @a-genz-with-trauma-and-kins. It really helped me out and was just so kind and literally the best christmas gift I got in 2020. 

28. How well do you handle criticism when it comes to your writing? I can handle it alright but Daeram is a little fucking pissbaby about it. Constructive criticism helps people get better, so I appreciate it. I can’t handle critism that is incomplete, though. “i just don’t get it” or “I don’t know I don’t like it” kind of things. If I can’t understand the why to fix it then things get out of control. And then I spiral and RSD for like four days minimum. If it came from an anon or a troll, too, It might not bother me for as long. Things that are just like “this is shit and you should feel bad” just make me laugh. Couldn’t even bother to read it long enough to insult me proper? I don’t care.

29. Have you ever gone outside of your comfort zone for a fic? How did it turn out? I have a few times. Mostly in shorts and prompts, I think. I think they turned out okay. They’re not particularly inspired or anything.

30. Tooth-rotting fluff or merciless angst? Depends on my mood. Am I triggered? give me the fluff. Am I vibin? Angst. 

31. Do you have any OCs? Tell us about them! Fuck, fam, no, I can’t, I have so many. I have multiple original stories and some of them have very large casts and like holy fuck. Or do you mean in Sanders Sides fandom? Um, Morgan and Thorn in PD. The lesbian and her himbo dynamic. I love them. They’re dorks. Morgan is strong person with sharp tongue and soft romantic heart and Thorn is just so kind and so dumb and so exciteable he’s like a puppy. They were just filler characters and I got attached to them. Felton even gets redemption for being an ass later in PD, like oof i never intended to include so much OC content, especially for names I just picked randomly. 

32. Summarize a random fic of yours in 10 words or less. nope I’m doing all of them because these are fun plea for my new self: 2 gay vampires, 4 humans, 1 braincell dreaming while I wake: trauma child needs therapy and so do you break: big oof, oh dragons, oh why, go virgil go rebuild: virgil is so not okay there’s more virgil to deal painful death: gay teens drink themselves into a new religion stargazing: whoops we didn’t realize people actually cared whole castle: everyone will throw down for kid!patton, even you incorrigible: found family with a shot of psychological horror and crack dangerous instincts: wholesome crime syndacite action  slopes: addict gets mugged and thinks that’s just fine with him conflagration: logan avoids everything ever like a champ cat!remus: bored fae shifts gay pining from one person to another  caffeine cyptids: caffinated gay panic goes faster than regular gay panic eglantine & lycoris: more tropes than you can toss a shoe at storytime: overpowered virgil also overreacts literally always

33. Is there anything you wish your audience knew about your writing or writing process? an alter and I write together and I have absolutely no idea what’s going to happen, what I’m writing about, or even what year it is. I often don’t even remember what I wrote. There’s no outline. I have an idea and I pick things at random for it. There’s just notes and an evil gleam in a demon’s eye. The only reason I know more than readers is because I take a long time to edit and some of these stories have fucking alters up in my head who can tell me things. Daeram tells me nothing. The writing demon supposedly has all this knowledge but I have absolutely no clue because he does not talk to me, he just fronts and slams out 9k in a few hours or we cofront to write and I’m like “oh no she didn’t” while typing 

34. Copy and paste an excerpt you’re particularly fond of. i’m fond of the entire painful death series and I tried to find something I really liked without spoilers in stargazing and I couldn’t so here’s a random thing from incorrigble: “So, what do you do with your friends?” Patton continued on with a megawatt smile. “Grand larceny,” Virgil deadpanned and glared at Patton, who was taken aback. Remy and Andy just broke out laughing while Virgil tentatively sipped his still-too-hot-cocoa. 

35. Ramble about any fic-related thing you want!  slopes my dudes slopes i have learned so much about cocaine! like wow! I thought for a minute it was going to end with MCD around 30k but it swtiched from whump to hurt/comfort and I still don’t know if it’s going to be MCD but look at that funky little coke/alcohol addict go, it’s a medical wonder he’s alive! It’s not like there’s what seems to be a little talked about interaction between alcohol and cocaine that causes a toxic chemical to build up in the liver which can result in liver failure and sudden death at basically any moment! Which is part of why it may result in MCD but this time no ghosts! maybe it’ll be h/c with whump elements or maybe it’ll be whump with h/c elements we can’t know for sure

[mrslutterman]

Classroom Management- I’m working on that

As I continue to look at my OWN biases and how I might influence what I teach, I’m continuously struggling to make sure my own opinions don’t fall into what I’m teaching. I don’t know if other educators struggle with this, but I know I do. I’ve always thought that I was a pretty translucent teacher and that I approached things with all sides of the story- But I am now realizing that I tend to lean towards subjects that are more comfortable for me to teach and ideals that match my own. I don’t always like to push the envelope. I’m working on empathy and understanding. I’m working on patience and creating a culture where my students WANT to come to school. Classroom management? I’m working on that.

I’m actually reading a book by Dr. Dee Bell Williams called “Culture-Focused Teaching.” And it talks about how to manage the classroom in an effective way. Something that resonated with me in particular is in chapter 11 titled “creating a culture of vulnerability.” It discusses how an educator needs to create a classroom in which children feel safe so they can share their emotions. I’ve always believed that relationships are the most important part of teaching students and that if they feel comfortable with you they will explain the emotions behind the actions. Classroom management is a huge component of maintaining a CFC (culture focused classroom), and Dr. Dee continues to explain that through the three Key Components listed in her book, you can create a space students feel comfortable In. I’m working on that.

SIDE NOTE: This concept of creating vulnerability made me realize that educators also need to do this with each other. I think sometimes teachers have a difficult time becoming vulnerable with one another because it seems like it’s such a “cut-throat” system. I don’t think teachers have realized how beneficial it can be to work together. This is not something that comes easily, especially when you work with others who might not embrace team work, but it’s worth the effort. I’m working on that.

I’ve always been fairly good at classroom management, but it never occurred to me that the systems I have in place could be encouraging a negative approach rather then an opportunity to grow and learn. That belief of oppressing the situation rather then addressing it really bothered me. I know that when I’m in the heat of the moment, there really isn’t always time to hash out the actions behind the behavior. But I feel like the shifting of thinking and the changing of our educational systems might enable me to spend that time really getting down to the root of what’s going on with my students.Why are we always trying to “fix” or stop situations rather then discuss them? I realized that my classroom management plan might be enabling the latter and I’m not okay with that. Of course I never went into designing my management plan with suppression in mind-However as I study systematic racism I’m learning some of the procedures that are in place are in fact geared towards silencing children rather than understanding them. I’m working on that.

Looking closely at my past discipline logs, putting student relationships first is likely why I don’t have as many issues in the classroom, but there are always those students that you just don’t “click” with. Sometimes discipline has to be done and as I look at my classroom management plan, although I don’t feel it is set in oppression, I do feel that there are places where I could ensure more empathy and discussions rather than punishment. I think I could create more opportunities to learn and discuss. I’m working on that.

So as I continue to read and grow, so do my classroom philosophies. I actually have created a physical as well as a virtual classroom management plan that I plan to release on my teacher pay teacher store for free. It’s a resource that I gathered from a Google classroom opportunity that was provided through my district and the template is not mine but rather from a program called CHAMPS. Randy Sprick has a fantastic training called Safe and Civil Schools and I highly recommend attending if you ever have the chance. His philosophy also encompasses the philosophy of relationships and routines over punishment and ostracizing students. I actually wrote a post about attending this program last year in Portland, Oregon and I think if I can combine all of the different philosophies I’ve come across I will be able to create a really fantastic culture for my own classroom and like I stated above, this is a project that is continuous and fluid- it will always change and I’m ok with continuing to work on that.

[junker-town]

THIS WEEK IN SCHADENFREUDE: When Texas A&M snatched THIS WEEK IN SCHADENFREUDE honors from Texas

The Aggies didn’t just blow a 34-point lead. They also ruined what had been a delightful weekend of laughing at Texas and Baylor. Here was the online meltdown.

Texas A&M was winning its Week 1 game against UCLA, one day after former conference rivals Texas and Baylor had lost upsets.

Mood: Aggies http://pic.twitter.com/5NsqmCXF3h

— SB Nation GIF (@SBNationGIF) September 4, 2017

Texas A&M blew a 34-point lead and lost.

Texas: What a terrible opener Baylor: Hold my beer A&M: lololololololololol y’all ain’t seen nothin'

— TexAgs (@TexAgs) September 4, 2017

That fake-spike touchdown happened after the clock was already stopped.

Sumlin just made all of the shit I talked to UT invalid

— Jack R. Landingham (@KINGGJACK) September 4, 2017

Let’s check in and see how Aggies fans responded afterward.

A literal university regent immediately announced he intends to vote for Kevin Sumlin’s firing.

I'm sure I may be criticized for this post but I honestly don't care. I've been on the Board of Regents for the A&M System for almost seven years. During that time, I've not once commented on Kevin Sumlin and his performance during his tenure at our school. I never said a word when he and his agent manipulated a much bigger and longer contract. I said nothing about his arrogance and his mishandling of multiple player controversies. I said nothing when we had multiple awesome recruiting classes, only to see key players leave our school or underperform. But tonight I am very disappointed and I have to say this. Kevin Sumlin was out-coached tonight, which isn't new. He recruits well, but can't coach the big games, or the close games. Our players were better tonight. Our players were more talented tonight. But our coaches were dominated on national TV, yet again. I'm only one vote on the Board of Regents but when the time comes my vote will be that Kevin Sumlin needs to GO. In my view he should go now. We owe it to our school and our players. We can do better.

Share this as you see fit.

Shortly after that, the popular Aggie message board at TexAgs broke.

Live look at our site. Nice work, everyone. http://pic.twitter.com/4PIIlXBm72

— TexAgs (@TexAgs) September 4, 2017

Once the site was back up, the vibe was as follows.

Checking in on TexAgs... http://pic.twitter.com/gGfXlf0svy

— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) September 4, 2017

THREAD: “Legitimate Business Opportunity”

All,

With the inevitable collapse of Aggie football this year I would like to personally invite all of you to get in on the ground floor of my new up and coming business.

We will be selling tarps, similar to the ones at Baylor, to cover unsold seats for upcoming home games.

Kyle Field is a beautiful place and I would hate for the appeal to be ruined by empty seats. So join me in my quest to monopolize the college station tarp business and make Kevin Sumlin type money.

All name suggestions will be considered.

THREAD: “Not letting A&M ruin college football for me”

Instead of just giving up on college football because our season is over, I'm planning to just be a college football fan until Sumlin is fired. I hope we go 11-1 from here on out, but I'm not going to spend any time watching this team. I'm going to watch as much college football as I can, without all the normal thoughts that go through my head while watching games (ex/ is this good for A&M, etc), and just be a fan. We'll see how it goes.

The first reply:

Congratulations!

And the second:

We're all f'ed.

For so many reasons, my favorite current TexAgs thread is “Go Get Major Applewhite”

— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) September 4, 2017

THREAD: “Things we could have bought with Sumlin’s salary this year”:

1. Twenty-five Lamborghini's

2. A really nice house

3. Ten private shows by Katy Perry

4. Seven Waffle Houses

5. 270,000,000 Skittles

Any one of those would have given us equal chance at beating UCLA.

THREAD: “Land Kiffin”

THREAD: “Ruined the TV remote”

THREAD: “SUMLIN SHOULD RESIGN”

ANY MAN WITH AN OUNCE OF SELF RESPECT AND LOVE FOR ALL THINGS GOOD AND HOLY WOULD RESIGN AFTER THAT.

FIRE. SUMLIN.

THREAD “OFFICIAL MELTDOWN THREAD”

Fire Sumlin and make him pay for his own plane ticket home. Mond needs to change positions.

I believe you described the "bargaining" stage of grief ... You have progressed passed the denial and anger stages which is good. Next is depression which will be tough. Let me know if you need someone to talk you through it.

The Aggies forum at 247Sports looked on the bright side.

THREAD: “well, let us and horns laugh at each other and feel better”

Horns lost to maryland in all aspects and we lost 34 point lead. we can all laugh at each other now and feel better about selfs.

THREAD: “It's okay guys we covered the spread”

National Champs in Moral Victories

THREAD: “My Saturdays just got wide open”

I didn't think it was possible, but I think I'm done watching or caring about A&M football for the foreseeable future. I came into this season about as unexcited as I've ever been for a football season and they just crushed my spirit in one half. I don't even know how to describe this feeling.

Things were not much better at AggieYell.com.

There is, of course, a GoFundMe to buy out Sumlin’s contract.

It’s well short of its $10 million goal, but it’s still early.

Let's not wait any longer. Let's buyout his contract ASAP. This inexcusable. On the bright side, if for some reason he doesn't get fired, we can use the money to buyout AD Woodward' s contact. Worse case, we'll donate it to BTHO Harvey relief efforts. Maybe we could hire Mattress Mac!

Here’s some of what happened at SB Nation’s A&M blog, Good Bull Hunting.

It looks like the Aggies will cover the spread here

— Good Bull Hunting (@GBHunting) September 4, 2017

One author was able to look on the bright side:

Texas A&M is back!

The Fightin’ Texas Aggies shocked the nation on Saturday with a display of running game domination never before seen by the UCLA Bruins. Texas A&M’s top three runners, RB Trayveon Williams, RB Keith Ford, and QB Kellen Mond combined for a staggering 371 yards and 5 touchdowns on the ground. Combined with an early defensive strategy that was aggressive and opportunistic, it is no surprise that A&M amassed 38 points in the first half alone against an opponent who was favored to win by 4.

The Aggies lost, obviously.

From a choose-your-own-adventure:

Chapter 1: This is Incredibly Easy

You are standing next to a field with a 34-point lead and 4:08 remaining in the 3rd quarter. You have assembled a masterpiece. The powerful running game you devised is matched only by the intensity of your defense.

Should you run down the play clock before snapping?

Yes.

No, we should snap the ball quickly because... identity?

Congratulations! You successfully completed the "protect a 34 point lead" scen- ... wait, what? Okay, you have decided not to run down the play clock.

If you click on “yes”:

A commenter requested a Kiffining:

A&M needs to offset this embarrassment with a fireinf

Fire the coaches tonight. On The tarmac at easterwood.

And a Texas fan stopped by:

Horns fan here. Holy #%@^

I don’t know which was worse, probably the Horns loss. But, this is why you should play the Horns, at least one of us would win a game.

Unbelievable.

Let’s check in on Reddit.

#Tradition? http://pic.twitter.com/1DGjoEH4qb

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) September 4, 2017

When an Aggie asked an Atlanta Falcons fan about what happens next:

At R/Aggies, the No. 2 post from the last month was when Texas lost. The No. 1 post arrived hours later.

The comments under the game story on AggieSports.com should not be turned into an A&M recruiting meme.

Surely you weren't fooled into thinking they had stopped playing in the Aggie tradition. A&M is where top high school players go to become chokers and previously successful coaches go to see their career ended. Some things NEVER change. At the end of the year when we fire Sumlin and hire another sucker it still won't change.

At halftime, Texas A&M’s Facebook page posted this graphic.

Other Facebookers pined for the glory days of Dennis Franchione ...

The Aggies have always left their fanbase disappointed and yes occasionally embarrassed. They stooped to a unbelievable new low and it's all Sumlin. God I thought no one could out do Fran, congrats Summy, YOU WIN!

... and R.C. Slocum.

only a moron can repetitively lose season after season,while in a commanding lead,and only a moronic athletic director and department cant see it,why dont you just bring back RC Sloacombe so we can all predict the plays instead of just the outcome.

If Sumlin is still the head coachin the morning I won’t watch the rest of the season.

Call Scott Woodward, Director of Athletics, Phone: 979-845-5129

Tell him that Sumlin has to go.

But the finale post was even rowdier.

Other Facebook statuses were equally aggrieved, including several calling for the team to just attempt coachlessness.

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Fire Kevin Sumlin now! IDC if we don't have a coach the rest of the year....

Posted by Rick Wilk on Sunday, September 3, 2017

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Dear Texas A&M: Please fire Kevin Sumlin tonight. We will play just as good without a coach. Disgustedly, Football fans

Posted by Linda McFarland on Sunday, September 3, 2017

This isn’t how a firing works.

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It would be good bull to fire Kevin Sumlin and donate his buyout money to a Harvey charity

Posted by Chris Elam on Sunday, September 3, 2017

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Fire Kevin Sumlin .... he couldn't coach if he owned a bus company.

Posted by Lincoln Terrell on Monday, September 4, 2017

On Twitter, some people have changed their names to calls for Sumlin’s firing.

The comments under a TexAgs Facebook post of Sumlin’s presser delved into the real issues ...

... such as Sumlin being bad at unfucking situations with his hands ...

1 thing I noticed that was telling was Sumlin was engaged and hands on with his players in the first half, especially the line. The 2nd half he had a pure lack of emotion or fire. He always does this, when the game goes sideways he has no words or physical movements to fire his players up and re focus. He often states blankly into the nearest scoreboard as to wait for a response from the screen to tell him how to unfuck the situation. The only way to describe it is when you watch a war movie and the bullets are flying, explosions everywhere, people dying and there is that 1 soldier who just goes into shock and another soldier has to make him come to reality and get back in the fight... a&m doesn't have a veteran soldier to get our shell shocked coaches head back in the game unfortunately...

... as well as all the rap music and chewing gum, two things Josh Rosen clearly took advantage of during those fourth quarter drives ...

Sumlin will loose the teams focus now for the rest of the year. 4-8 season. Receivers suck. Kirk is good. The OL and DL played hard. I didn't see them give up. But they played with the plays they were given. Why not just run the ball. Didn't play tight ends. Didn't work with clock. I'm beyond frustrated. That game was in the bag. Coaches let them score 35 damn points! How does that happen? He threw Mond out on national TV to figure it out... he shouldn't have been put in that position. Hubenak should have been brought in as soon as Mond couldn't get the ball moving. The arrogance of Sumlin. If I could get my season pass money back I WOULD!

Time to have discipline!

Lack of discipline. Where to start?

-No more uniform changes.

-No more rap music at practice.. I see a lot of dancing around.

-No more celebrating before the clock says 00:00. Shouldn't have been celebrating on the first damn play!

-No more kids disrespecting the head coach on the sideline.

-No more chewing gum on the sideline Sumlin.

To be a winning team you need a head coach like Saban. He would never allow the above to happen.

I'm so damn pissed I can't even think straight!

... and the entire rest of the coaching staff, lest we only fire Sumlin ...

As bad as Sumlin is i can't beleive nobody is calling for Chevis head....what has this guy brought to ATM? He got destroyed by Tennessee Alabama, LSU and now UCLA.....Chevis and Sumlin are horrible coaches.....I imagine that Sumlin won't be here by next weekend....

... and goodness, do these Aggies hate chewing gum or what?

The coaches lost that game for the entire team, in the second half! How can you allow a team to score 30+ points while you stand on the side line smacking your bubblegum & do nothing about it??? Sumlin needs to stay in cali!

And finally, from the Sumlin presser Facebook comments, one spouse who’s ... well ...

My hubby was at the lake all afternoon/evening, and kept his phone off so he wouldn't know what happened.

This is from my mother.

[lemonela]

Part 3: France Exchange 2015

*continues to write about trip that happened two years ago*

I blame the transition from high school to post-secondary! Regardless, this will be super fun to recall such wonderful memories, and now everyone knows that though I procrastinate, I still (eventually) get the job done!

Alas, Part 3 of the France Exchange is here! The last two parts to the trip are all based in Paris, France, where the crew of Canadian French Immersion students had some of the best experiences of their lives. I'll leave the link to Part 2 right here, and if you still haven't read the first part, there's a link to that post in the previous article!

Wednesday, March 11, 2015 - CHAMPS ELYSÉES, MUSÉE D'ORSAY, ET LA TOUR EIFFEL

At 8 AM, all of us met downstairs in the dining area next to the hotel lobby for our first breakfast in Paris. With the hotel being so clean and beautiful, they sure do provide when it comes to the first meal of the day. The selection was huge; not only did they have the typical cereal, various breads and drinks, but there were also chocolate croissants (or pain au chocolats), a hot chocolate maker (and it was some A-class hot chocolate), packets of Nutella (the Italian kind, aka the better kind), lots of fruits, yogurt, and the list goes on. We all made sure to fill our stomachs so we didn't have to cave into buying expensive food outside. The pain au chocolats were also so extraordinary that some of us even sneaked some out to eat for later (at least my friend and I did)... I mean, it saved us a few euros.

After breakfast, we walked for a few minutes to the nearest metro station and got off at Charles de Gaulle Étoile to do some shopping at Paris' world famous 1.9 kilometre long shopping boulevard, les Champs-Elysées. Near the Arc De Triomphe, which is situated at one end of the boulevard, we were separated into two groups, and made a plan for when to meet in order to head for our next destination for the day. For the most part, we just looked around since the stores were either ones you can find in Canada or they were way past what we could afford. The first store I went into with my group was this kind of 'French Chapters' that had all sorts of random things like books, dolls, electronics, macarons, etc. The first thing I picked up was this black baby doll 'cause I'm weird and thought it was cool. I mean, how often did you ever see black dolls when you were younger? (I wrote this before 2017 -- now I see a lot more coloured baby dolls!)

On the sidewalks, there were also some street vendors selling souvenirs of Paris, but we knew not to buy anything since there was a 110% chance the exact same items would be sold for as much as half the price than the costs at Champs-Elysées. After a few hours, I only ended up with two items, I believe, from a chocolate store called Jeff de Bruges and Zara. Around lunch time, both groups reunited and we headed back to the metro for our next destination, La Musée D'Orsay. 

Before heading inside the museum for a 2-hour guided tour, we all bought lunch and ate on the steps of the museum as we watched a small Parisian band play music. It was a great experience, and I actually filmed some of it, which you can watch in the video below. After lunchtime, the lot went inside the museum for a tour and like all museums, it was either you thoroughly enjoyed it or you found it boring. Personally, I found it interesting and the art showcased within d'Orsay were beautiful.

After the first museum visit in Paris, we walked back to our hotel, past the famous Seine river on the beautiful winter day. Since our restaurant this night was literally 3 blocks away, we had some time to relax in our hotel before dinner. This was probably my favourite restaurant out of all nights in Paris. The main course was roast chicken with fries and the dessert was apple pie. Since we were a large group, all of our dinners were pre-booked, including what we ate, so that when we arrived at the restaurant, it wouldn't take super long for our food to be ready.

After dinner, we walked to the Eiffel Tower and took the elevator to the top. It was absolutely stunning. I didn't take many photos, because the lighting wasn't helping my phone (it was nice to embrace the feeling of being up there though), but I'll show a photo that I took during the day time when we passed earlier this day. Following the end of this long day, we went back to our hotel, got ready for bed, and set for another night of sneaking out past curfew only to hangout in our friends' room... hehehe.

Thursday, March 12, 2015 - LES CATACOMBS ET LOUVRE Today was more spontaneous than the other days of the trip. Instead of going to Montmartre as our itinerary stated, our supervisors/teachers decided that we go to an underground cemetery (Les Catacombs de Paris), followed by lunch, and the famous museum you've probably seen photos of called The Louvre. As usual, breakfast was around 8AM, and we then left for the catacombs. Honestly, it wasn't my cup of tea. I didn't even know what a catacomb was until we went down many steps to see paths lined with human skeletons and passing through dripping ceilings here and there. It was still interesting, but kind of gave me the heebie-jeebies as we walked through it all, but once we got out, oh... I was so glad.

After walking with the dead, we went to Monoprix, a kind of French Walmart, to save money on our lunch. We sat at a nearby park and took in some of the sun that was shining on our happy faces, and then walked through Le Jardin de Luxembourg to get to our next museum stop. We weren't exposed to many French teenagers while we were in Paris, as most were probably in school, but I took a photo of some just hanging out at the garden, playing a game of some sort.

Words can't describe how much I loved Louvre. It's a huge museum which would probably take hours to walk through all of the exhibits, while exploring the different eras, artists, and mediums of art. We were originally put into groups for a guided tour, but about halfway through, most of my group left, and remaining was my teacher, another classmate, and myself. Like the la Musée D'Orsay, it's either you enjoy this museum or not (or maybe you prefer to wander instead of listening to a French tour guide). Nevertheless, here are some photos I curated from le Louvre.

For dinner, we walked to Bistro Romain Poccardi where we had eggplants for a starter, tilapia fillet for the main course, and panna cotta for dessert, which was the best out of all the restaurants we went to in Paris, in my opinion. My phone died, so I only have photos of the starter. While we were there, two elderly women behind my friend and I asked where we were from and told us that they were also on a trip with their group. One of them also talked about how her grand-daughter was around the same age as us and they were both so sweet and adorable.  After dinner, we took the metro back to our hotel and barely slept for what would be the last two days of our trip.

---> That iconic postcard that I bought from the Louvre souvenir shop has lived on my fridge ever since I came back from France. It always gives me the giggles.

To be continued... Stay tuned for next Monday, when I post the last part of the France Exchange trip! P.S. I'm sorry if the remainder of the series won't be as detailed as Part 1 and 2 (and the first part of this post). For the most part, I'm letting the photos speak for the experience itself, but even though my memory of (probably) not as special moments is deteriorating, this trip is still super special to me. When I do explain things, that particular memory must've meant a lot to me, since I still remember it. :) Thanks for reading and have an amazing week, lovely person! <3