The Return of Zan: Part 1

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine! We're getting in the hang of blogging again, so bear with us while we update you with our lives.

This summer, while I was attending the summer program in the US that I normally attend, I had the opportunity to meet some friends I made online. I met them at the AG store near the DC area, and even though I had a blast with them, there was an unwanted (by me) guest.

Bref, tu te souviens Zan?

Heather Alexandria McConnell, better known as Alexandria or Zan, is the twin sister of Jess McConnell...somebody that I'm not particularly fond of. I'm not fond of Zan, either, but we'll get there. Jess is know-it-all, pretentious snob who goes to Columbia University. Jess and I have never gotten along. Zan, on the other hand, isn't pretentious. She's just obnoxious. Zan isn't mean or anything. She's just, well, Zan. She has this newspaper called The Daily Alexandria. Despite the name, it comes out every two weeks. It's similar to one of those trashy gossip magazines because the stories Zan writes are rarely true. They tend to be exaggerated or completely made up stories about others. Zan also has a Daily Alexandria YouTube channel. She walks around with her notepad and video camera, just waiting for the latest story.

I mostly had forgotten about Zan and her ridiculous fake news, but she clearly didn't forget me. When I heard somebody with a camera scream, "Hey! Sabine!", I had to think long and hard about who was demanding my attention.

 "Hey! Sabine! Funny seeing you here! I had some flight troubles and thought I'd stop by and shop. I guess I can head back to the summer program with you!"

...and with that comment, my eyes grew big. She was doing the summer program again after she was sent home early because of the drama one of her fake news stories caused. After that incident, only Jess attended the program. I was hoping both McConnell girls wouldn't come back, but I wasn't that lucky. 

I was particularly angry that now I had to introduce my friends Theo and Saila to Zan. Zan was polite, though her overeager self demanded a photo with Theo and me.

Zan tended to dominate the conversation, as she occasionally tended to do in the past. She noticed the 35mm camera that I received as a gift from my parents for passing the bac, and she insisted I take photos of her, Theo, and Saila with it.

Then, Zan decided to ask a random person to take pictures of all of us. 

I was not prepared for the return of Zan. Just when I thought she was out of my life forever, she returned.

~Sabine

Mon voyage à New-York

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Maëlle Lellouche, et je suis un amie de Sabine Bouchard. Nous sommes élèves à l'Université de Lille 3. 

So, I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself.
-I love to draw and am self-taught.
-I study lettres modernes at the Université de Lille 3.
-I love comics and have been creating my own since I was a young child.
-My comics are inspired by my pets, Louna (a French bulldog) and Leo (a cat).
-I am an only child and live with my dad.
-I work at a movie theater.
-I'm Tintin obsessed!

This summer, I participated in a summer study abroad program and was able to receive some college credit. I did my program in New York City of all places, and I had a spectacular time. I stayed in Brooklyn with a host family, and it was a wonderful way to explore American and NYC culture. The city is so diverse, and I also feel that I could live there forever and never do everything!

My favorite area of Brooklyn is DUMBO, which stands for Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass. Brooklyn Bridge Park is in that area and has an amazing view of Manhattan. I liked to go there and draw and work on my cartoons.

This was my view. Isn't it spectacular?

I also spent a lot of time in Manhattan. Here I am in Grand Central Terminal. It is a beautiful station and reminds me of some of the gorgeous stations you'd see in France. It's a lot prettier than Penn Station.

I also got to meet up with Inky's friend, Maia. We went to American Girl Place and got our ears pierced. I'm terrified of needles, which is why I didn't get it done sooner. 

We also spent some time together in Central Park:

Central Park is one of my favorite parks. I like it much more than Lille's Citadelle park, basically Sabine's favorite place to go when the weather is nice.

It's nice to be back home in France now, but I''ll never forget my summer in New York City. I now have tons of ideas for my comics! Have you ever been to New York?

À tout!

Maëlle

Les temps sont durs pour les rêveurs

Hello, everyone! It is me, Coralie. I have been practicing my English a lot, so I hope this post is better. In March, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to New York City again to take an acting class. I was also fortunate enough to see another Broadway show.

I spent a lot of time in Brooklyn, which is absolutely breathtaking. I'd really like to go back and explore some more.

While in Brooklyn, I was able to get a great view of Manhattan. Behind me is that skyline that everybody thinks of when they think of NYC.

Here is the Brooklyn Bridge. Sandrine actually walked the whole thing! I decided not to do that. I can imagine that she was exhausted after doing so.

Manhattan skyline again:

In the distance, you can see the Statue of Liberty, which was a gift from France. It was really cool to see such a symbol of the United States, even if it seemed so far away! 

The best part of my adventure was seeing a Broadway show. I love the movie, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulin. Actually, it's one of my favorites. When I found it that it was transformed into a Broadway musical, I was intrigued. Everybody knows that plays are more my thing; I'm not a huge fan of musicals. Sandrine knows an American named Elisa who is obsessed with musicals but dislikes plays. Funny how that works! So, I entered the theatre, rather skeptical about the show.

It ended up being really cute! It was Americanized, which I knew it would be, and there wasn't much French in it. Overall, I am happy that I gave it a try.

I heard that the show closed about a month after it opened, which is really sad. I'm glad I saw it! 

Do you like the movie Amélie? Have you seen the Broadway show?

Later,

Coral

NYC with Julien!

Salut, tout le monde! C'est Sabine!

Wow, I have a lot to tell everyone. My terrible cousin is back in my life, but that's another story for another post. This post is more exciting, though, because in January, Julien visited New York City with me! My brother currently attends grad school at NYU and works in the city, so I have a free place to stay. I've really missed my brother, so I was happy to be able to spend time with him. However, I didn't get to spend as much time with him as I would've liked because he and Julien got food poisoning and were out of commission. My first day in the city, I spent some time with Inky's friends and had an absolute blast. We went shopping and ate dinner at AGPNY.

I thought the Gabriela window was super cool:

After dinner, I took some typical touristy pics at Rockefeller Center...

...and in Times Square.

The next day, my brother and Julien were feeling much better, so we explored the city and saw Viana (aka Moana) in English. My brother hasn't seen it, and I felt that he was missing out. Julien and I changed that, of course. Julien and I also took an obscene amount of photos in Bryant Park. Check them out!

Of course, the pics with Julien in them are my favorites!

I hope you enjoyed our photos! I promise tons of new posts in 2017.

A la prochaine,

Sabine