the foundation program

in my research, i've come across this before and only yesterday have i really taken notice of it:  foundation programs in u.k. universities. typically a one year course of study for certain fields of study for entering undergraduate students who lack the educational background needed to apply for an undergraduate study. these students could be career changers like myself, or maybe students who feel they need more time to prepare. completing and passing the foundation year they are usually admitted into the bachelors program at that same university but can also apply to other u.k. universities.

it is one year. basic courses in that field make up the program. somehow that is enough to prepare the student for entry into the bachelors program. fortunately, many universities offer the program i need: science and engineering. i've look through just about all the universities that came up in the google search. in a lot of these foundation programs for engineering i will need to take statistics, chemistry, organic chemistry, calculus and physics. and that's just the advanced courses. i may also have to take the lower math: algebra, geometry, trig.  great... well, i was already thinking of enrolling in a junior college at home and taking statistics and chemistry.

compared to the u.s., it is light in math courses. before i thought i would have to take so many of the classes i already took--basically doing the bachelors degree from the very beginning. interesting that a bachelors in the u.k. only consists of courses for your major. there are no general education courses. perhaps they (u.k. students) already took those classes in their high school equivalent. therefore many bachelors program in the u.k is only 3 years.

i already know which program i want to do for my master's (though that can change if i find something better). i just need to figure out which foundation program and which bachelors program will best prepare me for the master's.

scary to think that i can leave as early as next fall.

field trip, part 2

the sky cleared up by the time i left in the late afternoon.

back to the museum...in front of the museum is chris burden's piece. at night, the lamp posts are all lit and it's a beautiful sight. the exhibition i went to see, the james turrell retrospective, visitors are not allowed to take any photographs so all i got were images of other pieces in other exhibitions. however you can read about his work and see images here. the sculpture above is centaur by pablo picasso. i also love the giant screen (image 5) in the museum's courtyard.

i highly recommend the james turrell retrospective though. i definitely want to make another trip.

field trip, part 1

some time last year i went to lacma (los angeles county museum of art). i took these photos and never posted them. i am posting them now because i took another trip to this museum yesterday and took more pictures. the photos from last year will help tell the story of the whole trip.

the first photo i took while waiting for the metro. (yes, l.a. has a metro). as you can see, not as busy as other metros around the world. the berlin wall piece was actually located across the street from lacma and is part of the wende museum's program, the wall project. the last picture is just the backside. i'm glad i walked up to it last year because now the lawn has been taped off so you can't get up close anymore (although you could just walk over the tape, if you want. there was no security in front). sadly, i don't think people are aware that it is a piece of the berlin wall as they are driving by it.

from the wende museum website:

"...the Museum conceived and produced The Wall Project, a public art initiative which commemorated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Garnering press in over two-dozen countries and broadcast live in Europe, The Wall Project’s culminating event on November 8, 2009 was the largest of its kind outside of Berlin."

i still can't believe i was in france for the 20th anniversary of the fall of the berlin wall.  it was a nice surprise to see this a few years after my return home.  the irony that i see it in l.a. and not in europe.  there is also a smaller section of the wall at the richard nixon library and museum in yorba linda (california). i got to see that piece when i was in college as part of a class trip.

more beautiful than france?

all photos from paris in four months.

 i honestly didn't think I would find a place more enchanting and breath-taking than paris. then yesterday i hopped on over to the blog, paris in four months. the author just came back from a recent trip to corsica, one of france's island territories, and the pictures are just beautiful. i was surprised at my own reaction to these pictures. corsica is so beautiful.

food trucks...in paris!

i'm slow to catch on but i can't believe that there are now a few food trucks in paris. i'm just reading about it now on other blogs. one truck is called le camion qui fume (the smoking truck) and the other is cantine california. i read an article by the new york times which made it sound like the trucks first started in new york and spread to other major american cities. perhaps it did (i'm sure they were slightly biased towards new york, they always are) but i like to think that los angeles started it. los angeles made it what it is now especially with the koji truck. however, the food truck had a more humble beginning in los angeles. for as long as i can remember, i remember seeing these ugly steel food trucks around. they catered mostly to the  immigrant laborers. the food was awful. really bad american and mexican fast food.

fast forward 20-30 years and we now have these cool food trucks serving all sorts of fare. in los angeles, the koji korean-mexican fusion truck, took the food truck to a whole new level with serving good food. well, some at least. others are okay. (i have tried the kogi tacos. it's pretty darn good). so i was pretty excited to hear that a city like paris is experiencing this part of american culture. however, unlike in los angeles, the ones in paris have a set location they have to serve from. no moving around. can't wait to try it on my next visit!

life + relocating

i'm not relocating. i was just visiting the website of the art space i interned at last year. the woman who hired me is no longer working there. i checked to see maybe she had found another job somewhere else or is working full-time as an artist. i found her linkedin profile. she has moved to berlin to work on her artistic career. wow. i think it's so cool when someone does that. another friend moved from northern california to oklahoma for an internship and later, a job.

i know. i did this, too. it just feels so long ago. i can't do that at the moment. not enough money and too many obligations at home.

memories

going through another one of those periods where i miss lyon...

kitchen views + wc (toilet room behind red door)

 these interior views are of the first place i called home in lyon.  i was only here for two weeks but i miss it more than the place i eventually moved into and called home for the 5 months i lived in lyon.  i think the warm welcome i received from the owner had a lot to do with that.

this was my bedroom.  it was small but cozy.  the ikea furniture kept me company.

today's outcome

went to supermarket to ask if they were still hiring (answer: no).  did not get a job but i did come across something i never would have thought to see at a filipino supermarket:  edam cheese.  what the heck was it doing there.  i know filipinos love to sprinkle cheese on their rolls or brioche but this was a ball of cheese the size of a big orange.  plus it wasnt even refridgerated.  i looked at the label, it's not from the netherlands, its from austria.  it costs $9.99.  i wondered if it tastes the same as the ones from the netherlands.

the story of how edam cheese came into my life was by way of france.  i needed tupperware but did not want to buy any.  while shopping at monoprix, i went to the refridgerated, prepared food aisle and saw a small container of pasta.  i bought it.  when i finally ate it i was surprised at how yummy it was and how simple it was to make.  i looked on the ingredients label and found that the cheese in my pasta salad was edam.  now that i'm back at home i have been thinking about recreating that salad.  so far i have the pasta.  the other ingredients are simple and easy to find it's just the edam cheese that isn't common in american supermarkets.  i can find gouda and goat cheese but not edam.  not even at trader joe's.  that's why it's strange to see it at a filipino supermarket.

after the supermarket i decided to head to another shopping plaza in another nearby city to look for work.  my first stop was a fresh and easy store.  fresh and easy is a uk export.  it was the first time i've been in one.  i asked if they were hiring and the sales person just told me to check online.  i then continued to look around.  it didn't take me long to see how british this store is.  it feels and looks just like the another store that i visited when i was in edinburgh.  it had very clean lines, shelves weren't as tall as their american counterparts.  it's a different feeling.  so i walked around.  saw the alcohol, mostly beer, sitting inside a refridgerated aisle like how ice cream would be.  took a picture. noticed some yummy looking products but didn't buy anything.  then found myself by the cheese fridge/end cap.  guess who i found there?  it was edam.  again.  this time it was just a slice for around $4.  it made me smile.  what a weird coincidence.

i continued to each corner of the intersection to ask for work.  all i got was a scoop of pistachio nut ice cream and application from rite aid (they aren't hiring though) and there was a supermarket who is hiring but i'm going to do that online.

reflection

stumbled across this on youtube.  i didn't know who she was when i clicked on the video but then her music started playing in the background and i instantly recognized it.  i just think it's a beautiful story and one that has some parallels to my own experience in france.  it will be one year this month since i've returned.

mar 7

view of fourviere cathedral with book market in the foreground.  lyon, france.

aug 12

life + circles

This looks chaotic but it was pretty organized and peaceful.

now that i'm 30, i can look back at my life and see how certain events have all come around full circle.  i remember not too long ago, seeing how it was my study of the french language that has taken me further than my university degree or anything else (geographically, anyway).  now that i know i want to work in humanitarian aid, i can see why i've studied that language throughout my life (even beyond university).

when i was in france, i remember looking into the local branch of greenpeace and amnesty international for volunteer positions. unfortunately i never got that far because my french was still limited then. the signs were always there in my actions. if only...

anyhow, when i first arrived there, lyon was having its biennial art festival, i remember one of the venues had a solo exhibition for one artist, laura genz,  followed the plight of the african sans papiers (or illegal immigrants) for over a year. for over a year, a rotating and large group of immigrants did a sit-in at the immigration office in paris.  over a  year! anyhow, for most of those days the artist did an ink drawing of the scenes at the labor office (which can be seen here).  the french labor office reviews each case one by one, and judges who gets their paperwork for legal residency that way but the immigrants wanted it to be a fixed, flat policy. it was a very moving piece.  i ended up buying one of the drawings (the one dated and labeled samedi 4 avril 2009...) that she made into a postcard.  five months later, as i was walking around bastille in paris, i heard a lot of noise down the street.  i followed it and there in front of me was one of the biggest protest/rallies i've ever seen.  in france, it was more like a parade.  there were balloons, confetti thrown everywhere, music blasting.  the french right was present, as well as the left.  there were groups of people who were protesting against the new retirement age, people in education were also protesting (a lot of people are unhappy with their president's new policies), and the last group to be seen were the immigrants.  the same immigrants that i had been exposed to at the art biennale in lyon.  they were there.  a very large group, i might add.  when i saw them, i saw my circle come around.

yet, in one of the days surrounding that manifestation, i was at the palais royal du louvre.  on the way back to the metro station, there was this big public sculpture/demonstration in a nearby plaza.  what looked like a stage was actually this public sculpture that was a rectangular frame with water falling out of the top like a waterfall.  through the water, there was a message that would be projected in it.  the message was about how non-potable water kills more than war, aids, and cancer combined.  this demonstration was sponsored by solidarite international, a french humanitarian nonprofit.

only after my return did i see all these things come together.

paris to london

6 years ago, i came back from france and all i could do was think about how to go back.  i did internet research on this for nearly 4 years before i returned to france.  i found myself at a forum for english language assistants in france.  i read each post on just about every topic and became well-versed in every aspect of life in france.

tonight, i find myself doing the same for the u.k.  as impossible as french bureaucracy seems, you eventually get what you came for:  a visa, an o.f.i.i. stamp, something.  they may send you back twice to provide another document you weren't aware about but in the end, there's victory.  with the uk, it seems they are just as tough and impossible-sounding as their french counterpart.  except, people have been denied visas.  the british are super strict (though not as strict as the u.s.)  yep, i'm a little bit worried.  the uk authorities, have very strict guidelines and they are on top of things.

talking about border control, i remember the first time i crossed their borders.  i was going to edinburgh for four days.  i was travelling alone.  i arrived into the city during the evening.  i got to the front of the line and the personnel asked me how many days i was spending in the city.  she then asked what my business in france is and i told her i was studying french.  she then asked me if i came with the other visitors who were in front of me. (nope).  she stamped my passport and that was that.

i don't know why i'm so worried.  this is still not anytime soon and i should feel more confident than anything having all this international traveling experience under my hat.

a year ago...

sitting by the fountain at the luxembourg gardens, paris.

the perfect afternoon.  those iconic chairs.  that garden of all gardens.  together, it's one of the quintessential parisian experiences.

the luxembourg gardens is one of my favorite places in paris.  it is beautiful in the autumn when the leaves turn orange and yellow.  i know how to get there from métro odéon by heart.  i wish i could be there now and i wish for many more trips in the future.  sigh.

a memory.

this is lyon, france.  this is the color of the city:  all shades of peach.  it is what i knew for the five months i lived there.  not to mention all the cool traboules or passageways.  lyon is nothing like paris but it still holds a place in my heart.  i suppose it was a good thing i ended up in lyon.  though it's france's second city (or third or fourth, depending on who you talk to), it is very small.  i felt like it is closer to the size of a los angeles suburb.  for that reason, i was a lot more comfortable there than i was in the one month i lived in paris.  lyon is manageable.  plus its lighter on the tourists.  it's a good place to open up an american/british company there as there isn't much right now.  lyon will surely love for that to happen.

coincidence

coincidences are interesting.  i had one today.

there was a new volunteer that worked with me today.  i trained her on a few things.  i was supposed to train her on the database but that didn't happen because there were too many interruptions.  so we had an hour left before her shift was over.  the computer lab is also in the same room so we mainly watched the keyboarding class.  i then started to ask her about school.  she is entering her junior year in the fall.  i asked her if she was going to study abroad.  if she wasn't planning it, i was going to tell her to do it.  fortunately she is going to do it this coming school year.  in france.  she'll be there for the whole year.  i told her about my time studying abroad after graduation.  mine was in a language school.  first, paris and most recently, lyon, in 2009.  incredibly, lyon is where she'll be studying.  i told her about the city and a few other things.  i could tell she didn't do enough research on the city.  it was so much fun talking about lyon.  i missed it all over again.

i have a feeling the heavens were smiling down on me...