35mm film diary, late-August to mid-December 2019

Well, this semester was kinda super-duper crazy. I shot, like, 11 rolls of film between the very-end of August and the middle of December, and only managed to drop them off for development a few days ago. Here’s a little rundown of the moments that defined this season of my year:

• Ash and I saw Ariana Grande live on the 28th of August, at the same venue we attended a Britney Spears concert at just about a year prior. The show was fine… but I’ll admit that I couldn’t fight off a profound sort of sadness and nostalgia while standing there in the arena, a place I’d been exactly 363 days before under entirely different circumstances. I’m not going to go into detail or turn this into a sob-story, but a whole lotta shit went down between August 2018 and August 2019, and I just couldn’t shake this from my mind as we watched Ari perform her hits on stage. Anyways. Thank u, next, bitch.
• I brought astronaut ice cream back from Washington D.C. for Ash and Brig to try and… they were not impressed. I mean, I didn’t  really expect them to be; it’s essentially artificially flavored chalk. But man, do I love that shit.
• In September my mom visited and I was officially presented with a (well-earned…) diploma in photography… woo-hoo, or whatever. Jake came down for a few days, as well, and he, Ash, Brig, my mom and I went out for drinks by the Canal Saint-Martin following my ‘graduation’ (the first of three…). Around this time I selected my classes for my first semester at the Sorbonne Nouvelle, and after much hesitation I chose literature as my minor. Because I am a masochist, apparently. This was my fall schedule, the classes in the evening are the English lessons I teach part-time à coté de mes études. As you can see, I’m working far less hours than I did last year, given that my university course-load is more demanding than in previous years.

• In early September Brigette officially moved out of my apartment. She’s now well settled in with her boyfriend, Ferdinand, in their super cute and cozy new little place… I mean, how adorable are the pictures I took of them building furniture together? Such goals, right?
• Ash came over to my place quite often in the early fall, due to the fact that his laptop had broken and he needed to work on his portfolio and send off job applications… things which, you know, require a computer and internet connection or whatever. At mine he could work on the desktop Mac I’d purchased used a few weeks prior (it was too good a deal to pass up, 450 euros for a computer in practically brand-new condition, yes please!) and his company sure did lift my mood. ♥
• I spent quite a bit of time at Ash’s as well these past few months, as you can surely see. I was there on what ought to have been Kayoon’s 22nd birthday towards the end of October, and Brigette came over in the evening so we could spend it together. The three of us ate ice cream and pizza and talked and talked and it just felt good to be together, you know? We were slightly less sad that way.
• Fun fact: for the majority of September and a decent portion of October, I had no running water! Woooo! It’s a very, very long story, but essentially there was leak coming from my bathroom sink damaging the ceiling of the café below my apartment. Shortly after the water was cut, a plumber came to inspect my place, but he was unable to determine the source of the leak and guessed that it was coming from the apartment opposite of mine, where, um, nobody actually lives. I was still able to access running water for when I needed to shower, wash my hands, etc., but I had to turn the water valve on and off each and every time I used it, which was real pain. Over a month after the first plumber’s visit, a second one came to reinspect the pipes, and thanks to Ash, who was at mine working while the plumber came, the leak’s source was uncovered and repaired, and my running water was restored. (Basically, Ash had noticed that my hairdryer, which I keep in the very back of the cabinet under my bathroom sink, was slightly wet when he pulled it out to use it. From just this, he correctly managed to deduce that it was the sink which was leaking. I swear, boy can be a real genius sometimes.)
• Towards the beginning of November I received a message via Instagram from a friend I attended elementary and middle school with back in California… she and a friend of hers were coming to Paris the following weekend, and the accommodation for the first half of their stay had fallen through. She very kindly and respectfully asked if it would be possible to stay at my apartment, and given that I really had no reason to turn her down, I responded yes. As my place can’t really house more than two people at once, I headed to Ash’s for the weekend and gave them my entire flat, requesting only that they wash my sheets before departing. They were such sweet, lovely guests and it was so nice to catch up with an old friend under such unexpected circumstances. My weekend residency at Ash’s was, of course, a total success. We drank lots of coffee and listened to tons of T-Swizzle and it was super great all around.
• My dad came to Paris for my birthday, as he does every year! More on that in another post.
• So, because of the strikes currently happening in Paris I’ve not been able to rely on public transport as usual… which means a) that I’ve been teaching my English classes via Skype, which as you can imagine is weird AF and b) that I’ve had to walk errrrywherre for a couple of weeks now. There is however, un côté positif to this less than ideal situation: whilst walking I’ve been able to take heaps more photos of the city than I usually do. I even dusted off my digital camera for the (45 minute…) walk to Brigette’s place last week and shot some wintry pictures along the Seine. ‘Twas fun.
• Okay, so I meant to write this very last bullet point about my first semester at proper university, but honestly… I’m not really in the mood to. In short: I worked my ass off, and so far… it seems to be paying off. I can’t wait to receive my final grades.

That’s all!