Spring Break 2007 was definitely one to remember; Paris is a beautiful city with a ton of awesome stuff in it.  There were 10 of us maybe I’m not sure I didn’t do a head count, because quite frankly I wasn’t too concerned!  I saw so many wonderful things that I don’t even know where to begin or what was the best part.  I think the entire trip was a great time, although it had its ups and downs.  I learned a lot about:  my fellow classmates, teachers, community members, and people from all over the world. 

 
            When we first landed in Paris, I think I had culture shock, everything is so different yet similar to things here in the states.  Yes, the states, I’ve never referred to where I live as the states before so that was quite different.  One of the many people selling things on the street, think Polexs in New York, asked me where I was from and I replied “America”.  I guess I wasn’t technically wrong, but then he asked, “Canada? Brazil? United States?” and I kind of felt weird about it.  So maybe through my journey to Paris I have a better understanding of where I’m from, maybe?  I’m not sure.

 
            I took a ton of pictures, which I am still going through, and need to upload soon.  My camera didn’t take very good night pictures so I’m a little upset about that.  I also went through 12 “double As” in a week, so I’m researching new cameras because it is time for a new one.  I want to get a camera with a rechargeable battery.  It was a lot of fun taking pictures, but I don’t think pictures do a lot of things I saw justice; it is just overwhelming the amount of history they have in France. The Louvre was amazing!

 
            The sites, sounds, and smells of Paris were remarkable, but I truly feel that the people of Paris and the world that I saw there was the most interesting part.  This was my first time out of the “States” and I realize that we, Americans, are an interesting breed.  I really felt that we stood out, just by the way we walked down the street – and how loud we were, that we were Americans.  Everyone was speaking so many different languages:  French, English, German, Japanese, etc etc.  It was truly a melting pot of cultures in Paris.  I imagine back in the early 1900s or even earlier when a lot of people immigrated to America it was like that.

 
            I’m writing this blog in parts, so to update the last part I wrote, some pictures have been uploaded to flickr and please view my last post for them.   I would do it all again in a heartbeat, because it was such a great experience.  I miss Paris, but I shall return one day and be reunited.

 To be continued…

So after much downtime on my site I decided to redo things. I was tired of trying to write my own blog software and photo software, so I went with:

• WordPress – blog management
• Zenphoto – photo management

The installation of these software packages was a great experience; it had some hitches but went over fairly decent. I also hacked Zenphoto to use my WordPress Theme – which I kind of enhanced the classic WordPress Theme to accommodate what I wanted. Also installed the Zenpress plug-in for WordPress so I can easily add images to my posts.

There are still things on the site that need to be finalized such as:

• The WordPress Theme
• Photo Integration

I’m going to add a del.icio.us plug-in sometime to display my del.icio.us bookmarks. yum.

I guess I’m fairly excited, ok very, that my France Spring Break is only one week away! I’m also pretty scared.

Farewell,

Brent