Rachel goes to Paris

The entire time I had been at college, I had been waiting for the day when I would study abroad and live in Paris for a few months in the spring. So I entered junior year - that's the third year - anxiously biding my time as the fall semester went by, dreaming of going to France.

I studied and worked hard, see:



























I had fun too, but I don't think you need photographic evidence to believe that.

Really, though, I just wanted to get to Paris. Then one day, I was there, and boy, was I disappointed... It was February, and it was cold, and grey, and I didn't understand what all the fuss was about.

Still, there were some up sides. Goat cheese, for one, and pain au chocolat. At least there were some funny things, like somewhat-scary bathrooms in the metro stations that looked like they may transport me somewhere if I wasn't careful:




































I guess the Eiffel Tower isn't so bad either.



























Oh who am I kidding. I hated it at first, it's true, but it didn't take very long for me to fall in love.



























I mean, in a city where sights like this are commonplace, how could I not? When the sun started making reluctant appearances, I knew I could never hate Paris.

Not to mention the fact that at the time, I was sure I wanted to dedicate my life to Art History. You could say that I was in my own personal paradise. No really, I think I have more than a thousand photos of artworks that I took while I was there, and even more photos of the city and the people that I spent my time with.

Of course, as always, it wasn't all fun and games. I had two hours of French grammar class every day with the Cours de Civilisation Française de la Sorbonne, along with one hour of phonetics class every day of every second week. On top of that I had a conversational French class, a class about Paris, a class on early 20th century French art and literature, and a class about contemporary French politics. They kept me pretty busy, but they didn't keep me from loving life. Actually, I rather enjoyed my classes.

My semester in Paris was one of the best experiences of my life. I learned a lot about art, and French, and France, and Paris. Most importantly, though, I learned a lot about myself. It's the old cliché, I know, but it's true.



























And I had a pretty banging time doing it.

Who am I?

Hello! My name is Rachel Aseltine. I was born in Carson City, Nevada, a long time ago. This is what Carson City looks like:




































And these are the kinds of things you find in Carson City:






























Well, technically this spider car is in Moundhouse (see, it says it on the license plate!), which is actually the town where I spent my first two years of life. It is a tiny little place nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains, which are what I miss the most about Nevada.

So when I was still a wee child, my parents packed my brother, my sister and our nanny Ma Win Kyi (MA-WIN-JEE) up and we all moved together to Bangkok, Thailand. There I started school at Ruamrudee International School, where father was the high school principal and my mother was a high school teacher of English literature and US History.

This was the logo of the school I went to in Bangkok. It is an International School with around 1700 students. I have fond memories of exploring the campus, seeing peacocks roaming around freely, and spending lots of time reading Roald Dahl novels in the library.


I lived in Thailand for two periods of three years, between which I spent one year living in a tiny town called Tongduchon near the northern border of South Korea, and one year living in Reno, Nevada. That was the only year that I ever went to public school in my life, and the only significant amount of time that I spent in the United States during my childhood.

Then one day, we moved to China. Beijing, China, to be exact. I went to a small school called Beijing BISS International School.

China

Yes, China. I love China. I miss China. I hope that one day I will go back.

Here's a photo that I took of the "Bird's nest" Olympic stadium. It was across the street from where I used to live:



























And here is a photo of delicious, greasy, authentic Chinese food:



























Yummy.

Anywho, I went to middle school and high school at BISS, then I spent one year studying Mandarin at the Beijing Language and Culture University in the Wudaokou university district of the city.

This is me receiving my high school diploma:
























And here is a picture of my two cats, Puck (in the back) and Mercutio:



























They are cute and fluffy and I have not seen them in three years because they live with my mother in Burma. Fortunately, I have seen my mother since then.

So, one year after I finished high school, I decided it was finally time for me to go to University. I chose Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. And I loved it.

College, Part 1

So when I was 19, I finally decided it was time to start University. I chose Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. The campus was pretty, the weather was mild, and the Quakers seemed to have a good outlook on life.






























My first two years at Guilford were fun but difficult. I was not used to living in the United States, and I found it hard to really connect to people who had so much in common from having spent their childhood and high school years in similar places. Still, I found a good group of friends, and I spent lots of time exploring the beautiful lake and woods that covered two thirds of my school's campus.


























See, that's me in the woods.



























And this is a bench by the lake in the winter time.

Of course, I went to classes sometimes, and they were usually in this part of the campus:



























The buildings at Guilford are very pretty. They are all made out of red brick, and they all have lots of grass and trees that surround them. I studied French and Art History at Guilford College, but since it is a Liberal Arts school, I also took classes in a broad range of subjects. Some classes I took outside my main fields of study included Chemistry, Psychology, Daoism, U.S. History, Political Philosophy, Beethoven, German, and the Science of Wine.