Pulling the puzzles apart

It's way past bedtime, and I've got nothing to do but write. Write about my day, this night, or is it my life? This life. Who cares? I'll catch the next train to sleep, the one sleep specialists say comes at 2.

The bus driver looks like a nice guy. I didn't even know there could still be a bus there at 11:30 pm, which makes him seem somewhat nicer. Does this bus stop at my stop? Apparently not, but he says he can drop me on the other side of the hotel, and that it's not too long a walk. I don't really care, I don't mind the walking. I like walking, especially on dark gloomy streets. I love the contrast between the faint orange street lights and the dark, the shadows of buildings and the white neon lights. Or maybe it's just that everything looks so quiet, so calm. Past a certain time, this world can very much seem like a sleeping giant.

In a way it makes me feel more alive, to think that there may be a risk to walk on the road less traveled. Funny it should be dark, that's not how I usually imagine it.

Well, the guy assumes I just want to get home as soon as possible. It's true, but it doesn't really matter that much.

Oh shit, no change in my pockets, just my credit card! The driver tells me that at this time in the evening, no one is going to check anyways. I can travel for free.

We keep talking about where he's going to drop me off. If only he had known how little I actually cared, we wouldn't have talked at all. But I wanted to talk about it. Seems like the appropriate thing to do, act like you care. And he's really nice and looks like he enjoys talking to people, which is why I didn't let the conversation die.

Are you a student? Yep. You go to ESSEC? Yes. I surprised myself on this one. Tonight like for most of this semester, I didn't give a crap where I went to school. Not like a few months ago, when I could never prevent my overinflated ego to shine all across my face when people who couldn't care less asked me where I studied out of sheer politeness. Why? Is it pride? Am I proud? Of what? Going to a good school? What the hell, I don't even know what that means, a "good school". What the hell happened to me in the last 12 years?

But tonight I was in touch with the child I brought home from Africa. The one who got beat up in 7th grade. The one who didn't understand the world around him, but was eager to learn. The one who was infinitely wiser than I have been these past years. I didn't give a crap, I was just me, not the other ESSEC guy I hate and wish would disappear.

I said it the way I meant it, not the way I thought he would want me to say it. A liberating feeling truly, to be yourself. It's kind of like taking off the make-up, and liking what you see in the mirror. Obviously, I don't actually wear make-up. Well, not the visible kind anyways.

So are you going to the party on Tuesday? Ha! He knows about it. What should I say? Yes, of course I am going to the party!

I don't really enjoy the parties, I just like spending time with my friends. I don't see them enough this semester. Or not for long enough periods of time. But who am I kidding? They want me to get drunk. It would be the first time if I did, and frankly it would kill me to do it. Those who know me know that I stand firmly against alcohol and getting drunk. It's a question of values. Or non-conformism or something. Or health, safety...integrity. Yeah, integrity. Sounds good but can I really say I always act with integrity? Hell no. So what's it to me? Who knows. Defending what's left of my past, perhaps. I always look to the future by nature. I've always been like that. Sort of like a refuge, but it makes me neglect the present, and regret the past.

So it turns out the bus driver volunteered to drive us drunken and worn out students back home, throughout the early morning hours on Wednesday. He won't make a single dime for the extra hours. He just does it for the students. So does he care about helping students? Does he like cleaning up puke at 4 o'clock in the morning? I knew it! He tries to look like he doesn't care about his surroundings, with his slightly detached attitude. But he loves his job. He loves meeting new people. I can tell. I can always tell these things.

"Oh what good is it to live, with nothing left to give
Forget but not forgive, not loving all you see"

What's home when you're all alone? Well, maybe the incredible music of Coldplay playing through the late hours of the night. People like us don't care much for short-term purpose. We enjoy the little, insignificant things and savor them as much as possible. Every note on that keyboard. The beauty of every thought shared with a complete stranger. Every strum on that abrasive guitar. Every little cloud of fog moving mysteriously under a street light. Every ray of morning light that tries to wake you up. Every drop of rain on your skin. The look in someone's eyes on the bus. The concrete arches of the tunnel's ceiling gliding in and out of the back window.

For the first time in ages, I sang my heart out today.

And it felt like I was telling a tale of a billion years.

Projects for the year!

Hi there! 

Did you miss me?

This semester, my outlook on life has really shifted since the 2nd-year internship this summer. Here and there a few illusions have been destroyed and forgotten, and I now feel freer than ever. And I am dreaming big. Really, BIG. More on that at next summer if these dreams do come true (and they just might! :P).

One of the reasons why I feel somewhat guilty for not having posted anything these past weeks is that I have much more free time than the last 2 years. I am literally looking at 8h weeks in terms of classes. But before you start rambling about how it's scandalous to have so few hours, and that I should've taken advantage of that to post, yada yada yada, you should know that there are many things I am working on at the moment. My time has indeed been put to good use this month.

First of all, I am deep into the paperwork required for me to go to Emory for next semester's exchange. I still have papers to fill out with the bank, which is very time-consuming and requires constant focus. Otherwise, it's pretty much done...for the first phase. Then once Emory confirms that everything is in order, I will have to work things out with the US embassy, which should also be fun! I heard they require a 15-minute interview with all visa applicants, and that actually seems quite interesting.

In other news, as a member of Sife ESSEC, I am currently working towards leading my own humanitarian project. It would consist of doing something to support Njala University in Sierra Leone, once a leading university in the region, which was destroyed by the civil war and needs help to get back on its feet. One of the main ideas I have is setting up a business incubator there, with the guidance of ESSEC Ventures and the financial support of major corporate players in Sierra Leone. In the short term, I am preparing a presentation for next week to try and get people on board.

Njala University

Njala University

Njala University

Recently, I applied to work as a monitor, specifically in inter-cultural negotiations, within ESSEC Irene, a (the?) leading European research center in the domain of negotiations, provider of seminars, conferences, and more, including to top universities such as, yes, the big H. Given my 13 years spent abroad, and my subsequent deep interest in relations between cultures, I believe this would be a very rewarding experience for me.

I am also going to retake the TOEFL asap. Now I know 108/120 is good, and I know it was enough to pass the Emory requirements, but the thing is, I should have gotten ~10 more points. I misunderstood the format, waited for 20 minutes like a jack***, and didn't get the chance to put in my answers for the very first text of the reading comprehension section. As a result, that section was graded 19/30, while the others were graded 30, 29, and 30. Just because I didn't pay attention. That's so like me to do things like that (don't laugh, I hate myself) , but this time, I am going to try and make things right.

In more general terms, although I do have fewer classes than the last two years, the work is much more team- and project-based. Read "long-term and difficult to plan out". I am part of approximately 5 different teams in various subjects and, believe you me, we are far from  roommates. From those who go back to Paris whenever they are free, to those who have other things going on (like me and my projects), to those who get annoyed and jumpy because of the complexity of the whole situation, it has become somewhat stressful. The funny part is, the work we have to do is not actually that hard or demanding. The real challenge is getting organized.

And I didn't even talk about the help I am providing my sister with to get her things set up in Paris. She's attending Sciences Po, and do you know what they study there? Uh-huh, 1st year microeconomics. And guess who did that most recently in the family (with a Sciences Po professor, oh, the irony)? Yours truly.

So yes, I have been for all intents and purposes, internet-dead this month, but as you can see, it's because many different things are happening in my life.

Busy...Busy-ness... Business. 

It actually makes perfect etymological sense. 

So why, oh why, didn't I see any of that coming?

Meiko

Discover Meiko!

I'm in shock. Really. Meiko took me completely off-guard. I wasn't expecting anything like that to ever be written, not in my lifetime. This is the first time I encounter a song that feels at once so very familiar yet strangely at the same time completely distant, almost alien. I've never felt anything comparable. This sort of sublime emotion I only knew (and believed I would only ever know) through a few movies, that very unique breed of movies where epic violence and utmost peace are put in startling contrast. This song is nothing violent, don't get me wrong, but musically speaking it's exactly the soundtrack I'd choose for, say, a long, contemplative scene in a sci-fi disaster movie of some sort...I don't know if I'm clear, if I'm making any sense with this, please excuse me if it's not the case but this song shook me to the core. Also, along with that breathtaking and confusing melody are personal lyrics about love that would make you feel lonely if you were in New York! How the heck do I respond to that??? That up-and-coming 1/4th Japanese L.A. indie artist is one big question mark. She somehow seeked out limits in my listening habits I would've never imagined, deleted tags here and there and shuffled a whole part of my mind in such a way that I'm not taking too many chances saying this song changed me. I have now to see how this will affect my future approaches to music, but I'm telling you after this song, I feel...washed. They say that's what music does, it cleans the soul. I used to think of it as just a nice idea to consider when there was nothing else to do. But this song made me a believer.

Just have a listen, and tell me. Should I like this? Should I not? Do I love it like fear itself? Or do I hate it for making me feel this lost??? This Meiko girl has to be a genius, and she's messing with my brain on this one! I am now launching what must be my 10th consecutive listen of "Hawaii", and still can't fully grasp the incredible magic that drives it, and makes it so hypnotic, so weirdly addictive. Let me sleep!!!