Back to school

I start class tomorrow. As a college graduate I never thought I would set foot in a school again. Of course I never thought I'd be living in Europe either. Life is full of surprises I guess. I spent the better part of the last week looking at different language schools, all of which were expensive. In the end I chose the school that was the cheapest (around 400 Euros for two months). I wanted to take class in the morning but the evenings were less expensive. The problem with having nothing to do until 6 PM is that you end up doing nothing until 6 PM. At least I do. Living in Paris without a job and without anywhere to be, I have become somewhat nocturnal. This has happened to me before, once when I was unemployed for a few months, because I had no reason to get up in the morning, and another time when I was heart broken, because I found it hard to sleep at night... this time I'd say it's a little of both. I was hoping that having class in the morning would motivate me to go to bed earlier. But that would have cost another 50 Euros and well, sleeping during the day is the same price as sleeping at night. I wish all decisions were this simple and numerical.

My school is called Campus Langue it's in the north east of Paris off of line 7. I went there earlier today and paid all of my fees, bought all of the books. To be fair I haven't been to class yet but so far the best thing about the school is it's proximity to the Canal Saint-Martin, specifically the Bassin de la Villete. It's a charming little body of water originally built to bring drinkable water into the city. After I squared everything away for school I strolled along the bank. And now I am sitting on a park bench next to the canal, eating a kebab and watching a boat go through one of the locks. One of the streets that goes over the canal just pivoted to let boat through, and all of the traffic trying to cross to the other side of the canal has to wait. I wonder if this happens often. It's interesting but it takes forever. It's the kind of thing that you can watch once but if you had to deal with it everyday you would want to kill yourself.

I wonder if any one has ever jumped off any of these bridges? Not that any of the canal's bridges are high enough to properly kill yourself from. There are a couple over the Seine that might work. In America about half of suicides involve a firearm. Like Hemingway's. In France people jump from buildings or hang themselves. Maybe it's because guns are not legal in France... or maybe they prefer the old fashioned methods because of their strong connection with traditions. French people also kill themselves more often than Americans. And French men are two and a half times more likely to kill themselves than French women. Interesting isn't it? And I wouldn't be surprised to find out that suicide was more common here during winter... I have been reading a lot about suicide lately, but I wouldn't read too much into that. I just payed for two months of school and I'm determined to get my money's worth. So I'll be around for a little while longer at least.

In other news, I've been listening to a lot of French rap lately, and while I don't really understand most of it, it seems to be a lot more political than the rap in America. I like that. Rap in America is all about getting high or getting laid or getting killed... or being really good at rapping. I shared some French rap with Becca and... well she wasn't as enthralled with it as I am. She prefers American music. Incidentally she is moving back to America this month. I guess her internship is over in a week or so. She says she is going to try to move back out here but it's all uncertain at the moment. You should meet her... except she is from the south, so it's not exactly next door. If you do get together, I'm sure you can enjoy listening to Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros together since you both love it so much... not that I don't like that song... it just seems like most songs in America have to be about love and sex and relationships in order for anyone to care. But maybe the music is the same here... like I said I don't understand most of it.

Come to think of it, the water in this canal is probably freezing. If I jumped in there's a slight possibility that my heart would stop working.

It's something to think about...

Sincerely,

Willim


Currently listening:



Soprano - Ferme les yeux imagine toi