cold-hearted Iceland (and warm weather at last).

Hello all,

It's been a difficult couple of days - my parents were supposed to come visit me for a week starting Saturday the 17th.  I know Texas is a long way from Europe, and from Iceland, but maybe you've heard some kind of rumor involving a volcano, clouds of ash, and millions of airline passengers stranded around the world.  (If you've been living at Enchanted Rock for the past few days, read here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/world/europe/20ash.html?ref=world .)

Sadly, it's all true.  When my parents booked their flight to Paris during my "Easter" break (the last two weeks of April, meaning now), I was thinking "oh good, it shouldn't be too cold!".  I didn't think about the cloud of volcanic ash that has drifted over much of the European continent since Thursday, affecting airports in at least 33 countries, stranding 8 million passengers worldwide, and costing the aviation industry at least a billion dollars (if not closer to 2 billion).  After five solid days of paralyzed traffic, many tied to the industry are clamoring for government "bail-outs" and considering emergency lay-offs.  The volcanic event is obviously a force majeur, but that hasn't prevented harsh criticism of European governmental infrastructure which was slow to respond to the crisis and more or less neglected to run tests during its first 4 days.  Instead, airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa, driven to desperation, ran test flights which resulted in no perceptible damage to aircraft, leading them to beg authorities to reconsider.  That article I posted above is the latest in a line of many I've read - obviously this event has had a quite personal impact on my life, but in any case it's been very interesting to see it all play out.  People are calling it the "worst weekend in travel industry history".

It's funny how quickly you get used to things.  At the beginning of last week I was practically bouncing around the apartment in anticipation of my parents' visit.  But on Thursday in class a mauvais sentiment came over me.  I'm not going to say I'm psychic or anything...maybe I just had too much coffee?  Anyway I went about my day, which included picking up the keys to the apartment my parents were renting and scheduling some rendez-vous to introduce them to various figures in my Parisian life.  But when I got home there it was - a message from my mom talking about...volcanic ash clouds?  What?

Parisian airports closed at 11PM last Thursday (that's 4PM your time, Texans) and have yet to reopen.  My parents attempted to re-book and fly into Barcelona, but when I had trouble acquiring train tickets between there and Paris and when I woke up Saturday to news reports that the clouds were heading South, I phoned them - at 2AM their time - to have a little chat about the rationality of the whole trip.  Canceling the whole trip was a hard decision to make, but it was definitely the right one.  Throwing yourself willingly into the chaos that IS European travel at this moment is not wise and might even be considered selfish (think of all the people stranded *away* from home!).  I just can't believe that what would have been my parents' first trip to Europe fell during the worst 5 days of travel history.
--
Think of something awesome you've anticipated for months.  A visit from a loved one, graduation, a wedding, a concert...In the days just before the event actually happens, you think "oh my gosh, it's here!  I can't believe it!  It doesn't feel real!"
And then it ISN'T real!
Do you know what I mean?  Well, I think a couple million people around the world do.
--
As you see from the article above, many airports should be open tomorrow morning and we can expect things to return to "normal" by Thursday...just in time for my trip to Italy on Saturday?  In the meantime, partly to console myself, I'll be going to Montpellier (!) Wednesday-Friday with my Italian friend Simona.  We're going by train - there's a strike, but from what I understand it shouldn't affect the train I bought tickets for.  I haven't yet dared to aborder the question of the French grève, maybe for another post...or a book...

Otherwise, my life lately has been quite the opposite of cloudy.  Spring has finally decided to stick around, knock on wood, and I've been taking every chance I get to be outside.  Last weekend I went "row-boating" (is there a verb for this?) on the Lac Daumesnil in the Bois de Vincennes just south/east of the 20 arrondissements.  A beautiful day with my friends Zina and Sandra:

The next day Zina, Sandra, and I met up with Andrea, Emilia, and Catherine for a lovely afternoon in the GORGEOUS Park Buttes-Chaumont:

I also had the *amazing* opportunity to see Il Piccolo Teatro di Milano's production of Goldoni's Trilogia della Villeggiatura (I think in English it's called "Living on Credit"), this playwright's response to Venetian culture of the late 18th century, which he deemed "excessive" and consumeristic.  The play was directed by Toni Servillo, a renowned Italian director and actor, who also played the role of the "scrouge" Ferdinando.  Servillo's antics were well balanced by the solid acting of Anna Della Rosa, a relative newbie in Italy's acting scene who brought a lot of emphasis to the dilemma of the play's central character, Giacinta, who finds herself caught between "true love" and societal responsibility.  I saw the play with my Italian Lit. class, a revelatory experience in itself - the fact that we weren't at school led my fellow classmates to ask me questions they'd "always wanted to ask" (like why I started studying Italian, etc) and to profess their adoration for my anglophone accent (when I speak Italian, although it's *definitely* there when I speak French as well!).  It's sort of aggravating that it's taken them this long to open up a bit, but that's how it is.  They are the same with each other!  Anyway it was a great soirée.

I managed to make this past weekend a good one despite a couple hours of wallowing in self-pity.  I went to a fancy invitation-only house concert to see some live music, including this artist, who is the most adorable person you will ever see play live:

http://www.myspace.com/alexawoodward  

Sunday: the best falafel in the world (or at least Paris - Lenny Kravitz, among other celebrities agrees!), Place des Vosges with about a thousand other Parisians, and the best gelato in Paris, at least according to Claire's Tahitian roommate Jenn:

That's the news from this side of the air-traffic ban.  Thanks for all your support and sympathy in the last few days.  It's pretty heart-breaking that my parents weren't able to come, but at least they didn't get stranded somewhere!  We'll just have to take on Europe together another time :)

Keep in touch,

Alina :)