Acne Ah!

After spending hours trying to think of a clever blog title involving "Aachen", I give up and just use an anagram of it. ("Acne Ah!" just barely beat out "Acne Ha!")

Don't go to this blog or this blog, because they suck.

I am going back to my normal format, but I'm going to keep the song thing. This one is because I miss everyone and wish I was home. There. I said it.

Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDRLW748j68


After Brussels, we took a train to Germany to visit some family. But what would a Mohseni/Majdi trip be like without some sort of transportation complication? So after a half-hour delay we boarded our train, 1st class. Here is Arash taking advantage of the complimentary Wi-Fi.

We were also served orange juice, a tuna sandwich, and a little cake. Living the high life. I can't believe I didn't take pictures.

Also, I forgot to include this in the Brussels post, but here is a picture I took of Arash. I thought it had to go somewhere.

Anyway, after getting to Aachen (where?) an hour later we were greeted by my friend Lilian.

After narrowly escaping from that lion, we dropped out bags off at her apartment and then went to an all-you-can-eat place where I only ate one dish (I don't want to talk about it). Afterwards we went and hung out with some Germans and Arash and I got a pitcher of Sangria, which ended up being 50% off. I love it when things end up being cheaper than you thought. Not to mention, I managed to interject into the conversation with some knowledge I learned in my Democratic Change and Authoritarian Resilience in North Africa class, and I felt pretty accomplished. This is the best picture of me and Arash ever. Notice the perfect tilt (those Germans know their hipster photography), but then our heads are tilted to compensate, so our heads look straight and our bodies are crooked. A lot went into this.

After the place closed up, we went back to Lilly's and she read our blogs and agreed mine was better. Then we talked about interesting things until 4 AM. Arash and I cuddled for the second night in a row (this will be a new trend). I got to know him a lot better over this trip.

So here's the crazy thing about Lilian. She has an aunt who lives in West Hartford, CT (15 minutes from me) that is pregnant. I have an uncle who lives in Aachen (15 minutes from her) who just had a baby a month ago. WHATTTT

Anyway, the next day my uncle came to pick us up, and we got to meet Lilian's family too (they lived at another apartment, it's complicated). Arash was intimidated by her mathematician brother. Then we went to my uncle's.

After being anti-social for a while, we went into the Christmas market for its last day. The first thing I did was buy an Alemmania Aachen scarf.

Erik Meijer, legend.

At the Christmas markets they had mostly food and carousels. We had bratwurst, a pretzel, potato things, and a crèpe that made me miss Paris. After about half an hour we got cold and went to hang out in a bookstore for an hour. Here is me with a horse:

Arash read a really weird comic book, maybe you can ask him about it. Afterwards they had a playground thing outside and I went and climbed it. People frowned upon me which made me feel cool and like a rebel.

The Zissou pose.

We retired for the night.

The next day we did nothing except eat and go on the internet, until about 11 PM when we attended the Christmas eve ceremony at der Dome. I had unrealistic expectations since the only thing I'd seen before was in Home Alone when he goes to church and there is a little girls choir singing. Instead there were a bunch of men singing in German, but it was still good. And don't listen to Arash, the cathedral was actually pretty cool (as long as you don't compare to Notre Dame). Here is a picture I am a little proud of (I had to hold the camera still for like 3 full seconds!):

Woah! Did you notice that^? The end of the parentheses and the colon together make a sad face. How funny (and sad) and unintentional!

Interesting conversations that were had on this trip:

• EU immigration
• Arash and my types of girls (you can ask me but I will ask what you think first)
• cute vs pretty vs hot
• how my blog is better
• personal discussions through which I learned more about Arash
• morality vs utility (in the form of Lilians and a fat man)
• New Years Resolutions (see below)
• other things I don't remember

We talked about New Years Resolutions, and although it's not New Years yet and I didn't want to post these until then, I will comment on it briefly, because Arash wasn't completely right. Though I would also like to get better at writing stories, my #1 goal (the same for all men) is to get big. My goal is to be the first jacked film director:

Wes Anderson

PT Anderson

Coen Brothers

Sepanta

Ok fine, my real New Years Resolution is to learn Photoshop. Just kidding, I'm already awesome at it. I don't have a resolution yet but maybe I will by New Years, so to find out, keep following my blog! Yeah!


Here are some quotes to live by:

Nakkisa: your blog truly is better than arash's.

Ramin: i read your blog

  and only skim arash's blog

Arash: i am weird

Arash: hows blog update?

  about aacehn

  I WANT TO READ

  and lol

  i love you btw

I think that's it for now. I love and miss everyone and wish you all a belated Festivus!

TTP (Or "I Loved Brussels So Much I Might Give Brussel Sprouts Another Chance")

Prologue:

There is a war coming.

Arash Majdi and several of his compatriots have had the audacity to attempt to uproot and destroy my blog, so this post will not be like normal. I need all able friends to click "Follow" on the right and proceed with instructions. Then, refresh the blog page by how many years you've known me x 5 i.e. if we met 4 years ago, then refresh 4 x 5 = 20 = a minute of your time. Please? Pretty please? I'll even give you a cherry. I recommend everybody do a quick skim (skim and not read because that's all you need) of his blog so that they will understand the new layout/format of this blogpost, as it is meant more or less as a parody. I have come under harsh criticism for the regularity (or lack thereof) of my updates and I want to silence the negative Nancys. (Nancies? Whatever) 

Arash, suck it. 

(but really I love you)
__________________________________________________________________________________

Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7P5jWu9JLo

What this blog post will be like:

Everybody says my blog is dead and it makes me sad. My blog is not dead but it is struggling and it could really use the support of people instead of the hate. LOVE MEEEE. It's like telling a cancer patient "Why bother?" So please stand by me when the night has come and the land is dark.

WARNING: THIS WILL NOT BE A REEL BLOG POST. DO NOT JUGE ME BASED ON WHAT I RIGHT THIS TIME. I AM ONLY MAKEING A POINT.

Amsterdam:

Not all it is cracked up to be. Arash covered it in his blogpost and I don't want to repeet but it was really cold and we don't have good time. EVERYONE IS TALL AND HAS HUGE BIKES:

Just pretend Amsterdam is a ship and this is me (more like the other way around):

Then we went to Brussels.

Brussels:

By the way unfortunately we took most of the pictures with Arash's camera (phone) so now I am resorting to Google and Youtube. To be honest it's a lot easier.

Nazanin:

In Brussels I met up with my long-lost cousin (I hadn't seen her in a year) Nazanin and her boyfriend Moulay. Her name in Persian means "dear" or "cute" and she is all of these things, not to mention hipster. After Amsterdam we needed a win, and we got it. Brussels was like a super mini-Paris (I mean that as a compliment) and even more hipster (in fact, it was so hip I felt like a bro). There were street paintings everywhere and Nazanin's boyfriend knew all the artists and which ones had done what (he's a graphics designer).

My cousin did a tarot card reading which basically told me I will create something "new" in the next year, and there was a suspicious amount of hinting (i.e. the card had a picture of a man touching a woman's stomach) that it would be a child. So I'm breaking the news to everyone now. Here is me with my Asian tea learning about my future:

After hanging out at their hip loft we went into the city for the Christmas markets and had some hot wine (it was the processed version, we had to wait to get to Aachen to get the real kind (more on that later)) and then went out to dinner. 

Moulay:

He is the coolest person ever. He is a graphics designer and he designs graphics. He also paints and draws and plays the guitar and a general artist and he doesn't even wear hipster clothes (so ironic!). Arash is writing the exact same thing but you heard it here first. For all you non-hipsters, take a minute to educate yourselves:

He would have won in that contest/Olympics (or not, depending on whatever's more hipster). Honestly, he probably wouldn't even sign up. Here is his website if you want to check out his stuff:

http://www.moulayguisse.com/

I learned a lot about the kind of person that I want to one day pretend to be like.

This is me with the coolest people in the world:

Second Song:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xwDDLuLcY


Vancouver:

That night we were at a bar (a couple bars) and at the first one we got B52's. Believe it or not it's not a kind of plane or gun or anything dangerous like that. Basically you light the top of it on fire and then drink it:

If you can't see anything, Arash filmed it.

Then we went to another bar and we were hanging out and Arash took my camera and started taking pictures of this random guy and then he came over and talked to us. He was here from Vancouver and really social. This is the picture:

Not sure what else to say except that he was social.

Oh also in Brussels earlier that day (and the next day) we had waffles. Belgian waffles.

And now we're in Aachen, but I can't write about that yet because I'm going to save it for later because everybody is hating on me. I'm going to pull a Harry Potter and just delay the release. Fair?

Now, you're probably wondering why my blog is titled TTP (actually probably not but I am going to talk about it anyway). I'm glad you asked. TTP is an abbreviation for something called the Traveling Tourist Problem. Now I know that nobody cares about this but I am going to talk about it anyway and maybe math nerds (do I even know any?) will appreciate it/correct me on the many mistakes I will make. I think I'm just going to talk about it for a little bit and then go into detail after but nobody has to read this or should. I am just writing it for fun.

Basically, as a tourist you go to a city and there are lots of things that you want to see. But what is the smartest way to see them all? This is where TTP comes in. The Traveling Tourist Problem is about how to maximize efficiency (I am an Econ major so <3 efficiency) in seeing all of the sights that you want to see in the least amount of time/money. This could mean metro, walking distance, other modes of transportation, their costs, times of day that are better for certain monuments, and many other random features.

If you take factorials then you end up with big numbers and there are like a jillion ways to move around a city, but there is always a best way. Since it's a factorial it's not linear or exponential but it's even faster so like 4! is 4*3*2*1=24. As you can see we end up with really big numbers, which means lots of choices when you're trying to decide how to tour a city. Also, peanut butter with Orea cookies aren't even that good. Basically, the best way to visit a city is to at least know someone that can show you around (something we learned after Amsterdam).

Lastly, I want everyone to comment saying which hand has skinnier fingers (left or right). We are actually taking this semi-seriously and have not been able to come to a consensus yet.

_________________________________________________________________________

Epilogue:

If this blog sucked, it's because it was supposed to. I was trying to write like Arash. Hopefully it still didn't suck though. Sorry. PS-I had 3 bloody noses today, new record. Anyway, next post will be good, I promise(that I'll try). Basically, we need to stop this from happening:

Arash: god

  blog getting so much ass

The Majdis Are in Town

So it seems as though I've fallen significantly short of my 2 posts/week goal, but at this point I'm just going to roll with it until New Years when I can make another resolution. I've been extremely busy this past month. But I'm not going to worry about the fact that I still have to start/finish another paper and reminisce about my travels with y'all.

I went to Prague which was pretty alright. It felt like I was "Back in the U.S.S.R., and the aftereffects of communism were still pretty apparent (by that I mean people were quiet, maybe they just didn't feel like talking). I bought a "Ticket to Ride" the tram, which made me appreciate the metro system in Paris (no offense Prague). Then we went to the club where I met a DJ from South Africa, and I was all like "I Want to Hold Your Hand", but she was all like "Help!" and I was all like "All You Need is Love", "We Can Work it Out". But she wouldn't have any of it, so I just decided to "Let It Be". Oh I also went to the John Lennon wall:

"Imagine" that!

After that I came back to Paris. Thanks Danielle for being a real host! Also, I was a bit of a highroller in Prague so it was difficult to come back to spaghetti and peanut butter:

Just put it on my tab.

On the plane ride back, I got stuck in a window seat without a window. Ridiculous! And yes I do think this is worth blogging about.

This is me in the plane. Observe the lack of window.

Last week, Neda was in town so she invited me over for dinner with her new husband Clayton. We may or may not have trashed the apartment but dinner was great!

This is Justin.

Justin.

This is me in Strasbourg.

Me in Strasbourg.

This is me being me in Strasbourg.

Me being me in Strasbourg.

Then we made a quick pit stop at the EU. I kind of like this picture, I may consider a future in politics. Only if I get to work in a cool looking building though.

Supreme Chancellor Sepanta.

After the EU, we made another quick pit stop at Avatar (that was the name of the planet right?). Here is a picture of me with the tree of souls or something.

Me with the tree of souls or something.

And then I came back to Paris. This past week I've been working nonstop on papers, and I am one paper away from freedom, free doom. This morning Arash and his sister Naghmeh arrived. Here is them:

For those who do not know, Arash is also keeping a blog of his journeys in Europe. In fact, he is attempting to uproot my blog in the process. Unfortunately, he didn't make it too far into his next post and currently he is making sweet sweet sounds in front of his open computer:

Anyway, I'll be busy for a while, but hopefully I'll post back within two weeks. The first semester is almost over and I have lots of thoughts but at 3:20 AM they don't feel like coming out. I'm really excited for the next couple weeks. We're taking a train to Amsterdam on Saturday, then Brussels on Tuesday, Aachen on Wednesday, and back to Paris on the eve of Christmas Day (it was cheap). Also, we're trying to be more hipster. Let us know if you have any suggestions (we've already tried googling, Yahoo! Answers isn't that helpful). Also, Blogspot's getting kind of too popular. I can't have my blog become a sell-out. Stop reading and don't show anyone!

In other news, I think I might pull off a Joaquin Phoenix and take a stab at rap. Anybody want to make the documentary?

The (Re)surrection

It has been 3 days since the death of my blog was called (by a med student). Well, I must say I am disappointed in all the non-believers, and hoped that you would all have a little more faith in me. This post signifies the Resurrection of both my blog and of the new Sepanta.

Too much has happened in the past month to even attempt to cover here, but I'll stick with some of the larger points:

• I worked on two films, more about that later.
• I gave (and rocked) a presentation about the exportation of democracy to North Africa.
• Had a super bougie (the bougie way to say bourgeoisie) dinner at a French family's apartment where I was asked who my favorite painters are...uhhhh...
• Visited by Danielle from Prague. I think she had a good time wandering around the city by herself (sorry Danielle)
• 98713498714 other things.

Pictures of things I've done recently/in the past month:

International Suit-Up Day (is that the REAL BARNEY STINSON????!!!)

Made the best breakfast ever. Thanks grandpa!

Played some pick-up soccer with these kids. (Not really.)

Played some pétanque (bocce ball) with these kids. (Really.)

Navigated through this strike at my school.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Took a super-trippy picture of the Tour Eiffel.

Sat on Napoleon's couch. (Really.) (Shhh don't tell anyone.)

Now, to talk about my own Resurrection. Well, since this me never existed it's more of a "Surrection" but who cares about words?

I've changed more in the past month than over the first 2 years of college, probably even more than that. I have blossomed into a young independent woman who can take care of herself. Except, a man. 

I worked on those film sets for a little over 2 weeks, almost full-time, and it was an incredibly rewarding experience (not financially, though). I'd been going through some secret doubts about film and whether it was realistic/possible, but after being in the "real world" for deux semaines, I am more excited about it than I have ever been about anything in my life (including the World Cup final). Despite this amazing influx of a new sense of invigoration and enthusiasm for life, I eventually had to wake up and go back to the world of school and giving (and rocking) presentations on the exportation of democracy to North Africa. Which leaves me here, incredibly frustrated. I feel like a little kid in a 2-hour car ride. 

Are we there yet?

Gunz Blazing

About to start my first essay in a while. It's 8:30 PM and it's due at 9 AM on the topic of consent from Locke and Rainborough's points of view for my Democratic Theory class. I went to the supermarket to get energy drinks but they didn't have any so I splurged on a 5 euro bottle of wine instead. It will get me through the night.

This isn't a "defeat" post.

It's just an "I need to get my shit together" post. My good luck is starting to run out. On top of that slight scare I had this weekend, the past week or two I have literally missed every metro by a few seconds, and work is really starting to pile up and I'm falling behind. It's that time of year again. So apologies if I don't post often/well, it's probably because I have nothing to post about. Unless you're interested in a log of how many total pages/hours of work I am behind...

My Faith in Humanity

Just took a tumble. I split up from my friends tonight to go home, but realized I didn't know where any of the bus stops were so I ended up walking 45 minutes to an hour in the rain to somewhere I knew. Right before I got there, a 6' 3" guy grabbed my arm and started roughing me up, asking what I was hiding in my jacket and that he'd seen me steal something. What he'd seen me "steal" were my headphones that I was just hiding in my coat because it was raining. But he wouldn't understand it and kept pulling me by the arm until I showed him. So he grabbed the headphones, said he was police, and that he had to take them from me. Then he followed the cord, reached into my pocket and pulled out my iPod. Said he had to take that too. I told him he wasn't a cop and to show me his badge, he told me he would take me to the other cops. I didn't follow him and he kept trying to pull me around. This whole process was about 5 minutes of him pulling me back and forth and me trying to tell him to let me go. But what really pissed me off was that there were about 15 people not even 20 feet away who just stood there and did nothing. I don't understand how that is possible. Tonight I promised if I ever saw anyone doing anything to someone else, I wouldn't just stand there, and I hope no one else does either. It's pathetic if 15 people can't stand up to 1. Eventually, I pushed him back, grabbed my headphones and iPod, told him I was a student without money and he should steal from someone else, that he should go fuck himself(quietly), and walked off. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take a picture. Made it back safe and sound.

Sorry this post wasn't that funny or entertaining but I'm just too goddamn pissed off right now.

On a lighter note, The Social Network is a de-lightful film. Check it out.

Heightsmen Hotel

Wow. A lot has happened since I posted two weeks ago. So I'm going to skip all of that up until this weekend. To be honest, aside from one night where I flooded my apartment, got pranked on by a French kid, saw 2 people doing something inappropriate in a car, and had an epic bike race against time that went down to the wire, it was pretty boring.

So I am going to skip ahead to this weekend, when I was personally invited to go down and stay in the famous Heightsmen Hotel by its owners/managers Nils and Sophie, free of charge. Situated on the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence, the location boasts a luxurious suite, unparalleled generosity, beautiful views, a range of activities and entertainment, free guided tours, and delightful cuisine, all situated against the backdrop of an artistic and hip city-town. Aix has been described in the following ways:

-artsy fartsy
-posh
-former home of Cezanne, Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, etc.
-the sexiest city in France

It lived up to all of these.

My trip began on Friday, when I was transported first-class direct from Paris to Aix. I was greeted personally by none other than the hotel mogul, Nils. We went to lunch where I had stuffed calamari followed by Cezanne's favorite dessert (still awaiting verification on this).

After this, I was afforded a few hours to discover Aix on my own. I walked down the Cours Mirabeau and I needed a watch so I bought one (yes, that's a price not a phone number):

Other highlights included:

-seeing the cathedral
-buying my cheapest crepe so far at 2 euros
-stopping by a video game store to try out FIFA 11, it sucks, don't buy it, I lost to Paris St. Germain with Barcelona
-teaching a bartender what a white russian is
-comic book store:

The city had tons of fountains too:

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel, where I settled in and met the staff. Dinner was amazing, here are the hosts:

Afterwards we had some storytime. I recommend this book to everybody:

http://www.amazon.com/Story-Little-Mole-Search-Whodunit/dp/1556703481

We ended the night rocking to 80's music and doing what Heightsmen do best. Well, 2 things Heightsmen know best.

Saturday was a great day. After waking up and eating breakfast, I had a jam session with one of the hotel personnel. Look out for this up and coming star:

Then, Nils and I headed deep into the heart of the mountains for a manly mountain biking ride. Well, it was more like one mountain and we kind of just went up to it taking the easiest path, but still. I think it would be fair to say I spent more time on the ground than on the bike. Here is an action video, accompanied with a picture of my battle wounds (not for the faint of heart):

After a quick dip in the pool, we headed into Marseille, land of Chateau d'If and Zidane. I got a glimpse of the first one and didn't see the second at all. We got lunch at a place in Le Panier (more calamari, yeah!) and then drove up to the Notre Dame de Marseille which has a pretty good view of the whole city:

After that we went on an oceanside drive across the city, and then headed to my first authentic French soiree. I ate delicious hors d'oeuvres, drank good wine, and heard a lot of French. We went back and crashed.

Sunday it rained, which afforded me a much needed day of rest (the view was still great). We had smoked lamb for dinner and then watched Be Cool, which I surprisingly enjoyed a lot. That Vince Vaughn is something. After that it was bedtime again. The next morning we got stuck in rare traffic and I missed my train, but the hotel sorted it out with the train station, and after dealing with a couple other demoralizing individuals, I was back en route to Paris. All in all, it was a perfect weekend excursion. Five stars.

Thanks Nils and Sophie!