School's out forever? 

Finished my last exam here at Sciences Po and though I still have one online course to finish up before officially graduating, I'm already mourning the end of my lengthy undergrad experience. Hopefully that is just for now and I'll have a chance to go back to school in the future. In the meantime though, I'm getting excited about the next stage in my life wherein I (fingers crossed): 

a) earn actual money

b) continue to learn new (and useful?) things

c) no longer have (unfinished) homework as a constant source of guilt

Three cheers for a month off until it is time to join the real world back in Calgary!

fernweh

fernweh: (german) wanderlust, a longing for distant places

Even though I'm far from home, I'm still obsessed with the possibility of travel, of seeing different spaces, architecture, hearing a foreign language spoken in the street, trying strange and delicious new foods, struggling to decipher the mysterious nuances of public transit, meeting strangers who call the place home. Maybe it is just the prospect of trying to find a grown-up, post-graduation job with the accompanying, inevitably limited, vacation days that is making me anxious, but these quotes are inspiring me nonetheless.

Traveling out grows its motives. It soon proves sufficient in itself.

- Nicolas Bouvier (seen here)        

To awaken quite alone in a strange town is one of the pleasantest sensations in the world.

-Freya Stark (seen here)

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes opened.

- Jawaharal Nehru (seen here)
 (I'm a little obsessed with Nehru after one of my classes this semester)

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..

- Mark Twain (seen here)

And if you ever needed proof that travel is about the journey, not just the destination, you should watch this TedTalk about one man who took public buses from Washington, DC to Antarctica.

back from the beach

Back to studying today after a week of sunshine in Mallorca. Steve's flight was delayed so he just left this morning and now I have a couple of days to prepare for my one and only exam on Wednesday. Really, though, I'd much rather be going through our photos from the last week.

On Friday we rented a scooter to explore some of the island and found a perfect beach to relax at for a few hours. The curvy, twisty, up-and-down roads along the northern coast were so beautiful to ride along with the turquoise sea as the backdrop. We made lots of stops to admire the views of steep cliffs, rocky islands, and friendly goats. When we spotted this secluded cove from a viewpoint we knew it was worth making the hike down. We couldn't have been more right.

visitor

This guy is actually here. In Paris. In my little 10m space. So awesome. 

Not so awesome - how the airline managed to put someone else's luggage tag on his suitcase, so it has been sent off to some other destination in the world with absolutely no indication that it is his. At this point we can just cross our fingers that somehow the airline fates will align and send it back to us. In the meantime, an excuse for shopping in Paris. 

Awesome, again: I am finished all my essays and presentations and classes! And on Sunday we're off to Mallorca (with less luggage than intended, most likely)! So time to get off the computer and enjoy this week :)

scientific questions..

I came across this quote while procrastinating and wanted to save it, but couldn't pin it (disaster!) so I'm keeping it here. Nothing better than looking something up with Liam (my nephew) to discover something new to both of us.  I sure hope he always thinks that science is fascinating. 

Many adults are put off when youngsters pose scientific questions. Children ask why the sun is yellow, or what a dream is, or how deep you can dig a hole, or when is the world’s birthday, or why we have toes. Too many teachers and parents answer with irritation or ridicule, or quickly move on to something else. Why adults should pretend to omniscience before a five-year-old, I can’t for the life of me understand. What’s wrong with admitting that you don’t know? Children soon recognize that somehow this kind of question annoys many adults. A few more experiences like this, and another child has been lost to science. There are many better responses. If we have an idea of the answer, we could try to explain. If we don’t, we could go to the encyclopedia or the library. Or we might say to the child: “I don’t know the answer. Maybe no one knows. Maybe when you grow up, you’ll be the first to find out. Carl Sagan (Found here)

musee de la chasse et de nature

I have been trying to work on my essays all weekend but have been entirely unproductive. Everything is due this week though so it will have to be done! 

I didn't really take many photos, or do anything very photo-worthy this week, but here are some pictures taken on a grey afternoon spent at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting and Nature), which is actually a very beautifully designed place, with tons of interesting details, plenty of taxidermy, amazing light fixtures, and a helpful staff of grey-haired men who are excited to tell you about Louis XIV's penchant for dogs or to point out the detail of a painted mouse peeking out from behind the baseboards. It is pretty small which makes it very manageable for a short afternoon. Definitely recommended. 

The first thing that I noticed upon arriving in Arles was that everything seemed so much more colourful than in Paris: the buildings, the food, the clothing, the sky, even the people were more colourful than in the big city. Here is a first set of pictures from the market and streets of the town. Mainly a brief excuse to procrastinate just a little longer from the growing pile of assignments. Can't seem to cross things off my list!