I just got back to Paris! And so begins another chapter of my blog, for which I decided an appropriate topic would be: reasons I'm tired right now. I'll write another post later on my trip to Trier (which actually happened at the end of November) and what I did over the break.
1) I was sick before I left, sick in Iceland (where I swam in two outdoor thermal pools, which probably aggravated the cold), and sick when I got home to Buffalo. Then, with the jet lag, I was not getting enough sleep.
2) When I got back to Buffalo, I would wake up extremely early (around 5am, because of the time difference) and then work until noon, clocking in about 5 good hours or so!
3) My mother was making cookies—lots of them. So I helped quite a bit, as well as worked while she and her partner, Beth, were making them some nights. I would stay up much later than I should have, given the jet lag.
4) I got sick again, probably because of the weather and lack of sleep. I even had to miss Christmas Eve dinner, since we didn't want me to give my grandpa my cold. Thankfully, I discovered Afrin, the world's greatest miracle drug!!
5) I went to Baltimore, and DC (to see Lucie Arnaz in Pippin) and it was a lovely weekend, but I had to wake up at 5am to catch my flight back to Buffalo. My cousin Abby then promptly picked me up from the airport and took me back to my mom's house where we both made cookies for about 12 hours straight.
6) I did an insane amount of work on two applications, a conference presentation for April, an article that will result from that, my dissertation, and more.
7) I went to NYC for NYE, where I stayed up late doing Italian karaoke (and kicking butt at it, if I do say so myself!). Gotta defend my title: Karaoke Star of Urbino.
8) I went to San Francisco for 9 days, where I was waking up at sunrise every morning to get the most out of the trip. My friend Win and I completed the city pass and all its activities in two days flat! And had a 6 mile hike in the woods! We deserve some sort of award.
9) I was back in Princeton for two days, so not long enough to get over the CA jet lag.
10) I flew back to Paris, also through Iceland, and got no sleep.
11) Immediately upon returning, I went to a conference at the BnF. Today (my second day back), I went to an exposition at an art gallery and the jeudi de l'OuLiPo). Now it is 10:30 and I am feeling beat.
So, that's it. How I spent my last five weeks and why I am drained. But fear not, faithful readers (yes, I'm talking to you Uncle Jeffrey!), I will make sure to write more soon about my work, the Charlie Hebdo terrorist strike, a lovely medieval German town, my plan for my dissertation, and more.
