Hi, I'm a millennial, and the best indication of what I've been up to is the photo stream on my phone and camera. So, welcome to the photo dump portion of this blog! Some of these made it onto Instagram; others didn't because, let's be honest, nobody wants to be overwhelmed by dozens of someone … Continue reading Life lately: A snapshot
Author: Claire Santoro
A trip around the island
A couple days ago, our Airbnb host stopped by to check in and was surprised to learn that Colin and his crew were sleeping on Redonda ("In tents?!") and not just commuting back and forth each day. Once she had gotten over the shock, she realized that meant that I had been here, in her … Continue reading A trip around the island
Flying!
On Friday afternoon, I dropped Colin and his two fellow researchers at the helipad for their weeklong trip to Redonda. They had crammed the rental car full of supplies, including a week's worth of food and water, tents, sleeping pads, a giant golf cart battery to power various pieces of science equipment, fishing lizard-catching poles, and … Continue reading Flying!
Airports
All the traveling I've been doing lately - most recently to Antigua - plus the three trips I made to the airport in the last two days to pick up Colin's research crew got me thinking. The ultimate indignity of international travel is this: after a day or more of travel, you finally walk out of … Continue reading Airports
The Post-Poste Post
Well, that didn’t take long! Only days after I patted myself on the back for my bourgeoning grasp of the French language, the language gods brought me back down to earth via the horrifying event known as the language exchange. Nothing makes you feel more humbled and helpless than trying to have a conversation with … Continue reading The Post-Poste Post
The Poste Post
The other day I alluded to my first visit to the post office, which only required that I find the right mailbox for a pre-paid envelope. Well, I had to go back to la poste this week to buy postage for two postcards, and that was a little more involved. When I got there, there was a line … Continue reading The Poste Post
Head shot
We went to the Musée d'Orsay on Sunday and saw this masterpiece: It looks like the artist decided to quit while he was a head. Nobody disagrees.
Allô? Does this téléphone work?
The central tenet of life abroad, I've decided, is a little thing I call the "Rule of Three." Every single thing you do takes three times as long, costs three times as much, and brings three times the stress that it would at home. And at the end of the day, you are one-third as … Continue reading Allô? Does this téléphone work?
London
Although I've only written about Paris so far, this yearlong adventure really began in mid-January with a trip to London. Yes, we flew from Boston to London, back to Boston, and then to Paris, all in the span of three weeks. The trip totally messed with our circadian rhythms. As crazy as it sounds, the … Continue reading London
Let’s back it up a step…
I've officially lived in France for one week! Most of that week passed in a fog of jet lag, but I think I've finally adjusted—although, funnily enough, until last night I thought that Paris was five hours ahead of Boston. Turns out, it's six. Who knew?! Good thing I didn't try to call you in … Continue reading Let’s back it up a step…
Practice Makes Parfait 