Tuesday, January 29, 2008

I've finally taken the time to download the picture from the trip my Maman and I took to San Diego in December / January. So here they are!

Other than that I'm back in school even though I haven't fully realized it yet. I have the lightest semester I've had in law school and I'm certainly not complaining! The highlights so far have been my weekend negotiations class and my internship.

The class is by far one of the best classes I've ever taken. We negotiate all day long and after each negotiation the professor gives us a series of tips we should have learned. She was a family counselor before becoming a lawyer so she also works a lot of psychology into the class. Now I'm itching to use my new skills... does anyone want me to buy something for them (using your money and my skills - ps you get what you pay for...)?!

The internship is also great - very interesting work for interesting people. What more can I ask for?

Statute in front of the port in San Diego. It was enormous - taller than the tree behind it.

The nurse's shoes.

The San Diego railroad station

Inside the railroad station. The building was beautiful.

At the zoo!

We watched this baby monkey for a long time. (S)he kept trying to get food from his/her mother and the mother kept taking it away. It was very cute.

Grandma - I thought of you when I saw these ducks!
This is from the Wild Animal Park that is about an hour from San Diego. It houses only animals native to the African continent in a spectacular setting. In lots of areas you don't see the cages.

A lion. She kept pacing in front of where the tourists were and it was a bit disconcerting because she would rub her face right on the other side of the glass my face was against. The little boy next to me didn't seem phased but I was a bit worried about that look of hunger on her face.

See what I mean!

An Okapi. I really like how this animal looks and I grew up reading a children's magazine from France by the same name so now I always think of my grandmother (who sent us the magazines) when I see this picture.
Recently the Wild Animal Park rescued about 7 elephants from Swaziland (I think...) that the government was going to have to euthanize. And guess how they got the the States.... that's right - in a jumbo jet!

Even more recently several of the elephants had babies. They were so mischievous!

I guess because there's not much snow and maybe not many pine trees in southern California, lots of the Christmas trees around town were made up of poinsettias. Despite the 70 degree weather there was an ice skating rink in the city.
An old church in a historic part of town.

A scene from the town of Julian. This town boomed during the gold rush and seems to be a tourist attraction now. Maman and I happened upon it on our way to the desert.

This day we went for a hike in the desert.

The hike led us to an oasis! All of these trees were growing around a water source that dried up within 100 meters. It was incredible.

On our way to the oasis.

A beach near San Diego. I've forgotten the name but it's famous and beautiful.

These seals have recently discovered what is known as the "Children's Pool." It's a place that has very few waves which makes it a good place for kids for kids to learn to swim in the ocean. But since the seals discovered it, people can't go to the beach because it may scare them away. As a result, there is a big debate going on between the seal lovers and the kid lovers. I didn't see any kids cuter than this so I'm rooting for the



Last sunset of 2007!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

I'm Back!

After a well deserved break from the computer (and blogging) I'm back. Since this holiday break was the last month-long winter break I will have in a long time and probably the last one as a student I took full advantage of my time.

I spent the first two weeks in Israel and Jordan. Keren, a good friend of mine, was a wonderful hostess and not only took me all over the country but allowed me to really start to discover the culture. I also spent a few days at my cousin Isabelle's monastery and saw my friend Fuad. It was an amazing trip. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Then I went to Charleston for Christmas and San Diego for New Years (pictures possibly to come). Now I'm back in DC and have started classes again and a new internship. I'm going to miss having a fresh start at life every three months once I'm in the real world again...


Persimmons (not Pomegranates - thanks Shirin!) at the market in Tel Aviv. This is my favorite fruit!

Mud bath at the dead sea. I think this actually made our skin worse but it was fun.

No kidding!
Floating like an ice cube in the Dead Sea.

A typical meal. I loved the food in Israel.

With Keren on the coast north of Tel Aviv

The Bahai gardens in Haifa

At my cousin's monastery in Bethlehem. Isabelle is in the middle next to me.

A painting on the security wall that separates the West Bank from the rest of Israel

Buying bread in Bethlehem
A spice vendor in Old Jerusalem
Old Jerusalem

The Dome of the Rock. This was incredible!

Israel is the country I've visited that most consistently has great coffee and almost always with a heart design in the milk.

A man fixing heat stoves in a Druze village in the Golan Heights

When I saw this I knew I was not in the mid-west anymore!

A Jordanian merchant

Our first peep at Petra

Camels everywhere!

This is Susanne... a very mischievous but loving donkey

The treasury at Petra

A Bedouin woman who talked to us for a long time about her life in Petra. She's also Susanne's owner and an amazing singer.

Bedouin cats!

After our hike up to the monastery (a ruin in Petra) we had tea in this cave.

Jordanian and Palestinian men dancing on the eve of Eid. The Jordanians were annoyed because they felt the Palestinians were getting the steps all wrong!


Israeli military guys... There are lots and lots of them

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

so bored of studying....

view from my apartment

I only have one exam left and it's not until 6:30 p.m. Honestly I don't want to study for another 4.5 hours. Whatever I'm going to know I already know. So, in order to take a study break, I'm posting a picture of the snow that's been falling all day. It's really beautiful. I just hope it doesn't delay the flight I have tomorrow!

Maybe I'll sew a button back on my coat for the next break...

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

A Visit

Today I took advantage of the fact that all my classes were canceled to go have lunch with on of the most devoted readers of this blog... (yes, Shirin you have some competition) my grandmother! After lunch we went for a walk along the Potomac river near Mt Vernon (George Washington's house) and the leaves were unbelievable! I've never seen them so bright.

The only other noteworthy thing (at least of the noteworthy things I would put on a blog) to have happened recently is that I got my hair cut - a lot. So I've included a picture of that too.

Great seeing you Grandma! And see you again soon.


Me, Grandma, and a beautiful tree
Same idea
No more hair

Sunday, November 11, 2007

Virginia's Vineyards

Tiffany, Sohail, and Alex at our first stop.

The view from the first place. In the background were mountains but they didn't come out in this picture.

Sohail and Alex

Saturday Sohail and I went with a high school friend of his and his wife to visit some of the vineyards in Virginia not too far from DC. This weekend the leaves were far more colorful than last and there was a slight fog that hung over the landscape so the drive was beautiful. The wine ranged from very good to horrible! What was nicest was seeing all the old farm houses that had been converted into wine tasting areas. It was a blast and way better than studying for evidence which has taken up the rest of my waking hours...

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Harper's Ferry hike

This weekend, I took the MPRE (an ethics exam law students take before they can sit for the bar and since we're inherently unethical I found it to be harder than everyone says it is... for example, who knew that you can't put a $20,000 payment for your client in your own bank account in the Caymen islands for safekeeping?!).

But the real highlight of the weekend was that after the test Sohail and I went for a hike near Harper's Ferry, W. Va. The weather was great and the leaves were starting to change color. At the top of our hike was an overlook with an amazing view. We could see the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers which is also where W. Va, Virginia, and Maryland meet. Plus, Harper's Ferry is a really cute town where some homes and storefronts have been turned into replicas of what they would have looked during the civil war. The rest of the town is mostly crafts shops and restaurants. It was a wonderful day.

For all the frenchies reading this blog - this is real americana. Come visit me and I'll take you here.

One of the streets in town. Really there are only two so I guess this is 1/2 of downtown.

What more can I say?
Look at the leaves!


A view of Harper's Ferry from the mountain.

The Potomac river

On the way back down.

On our way to get the "custard" Harper's Ferry is famous for. I thought custard was like pudding but either I have it wrong it there's another definition for custard in W. Va. but there it's more like soft serve ice cream (much better the pudding in my book!).