Yanky DOODLE Dandy

Hi everyone!

I just got back from Rennes a few hours ago and I am thoroughly exhausted. However, I put together a quick post about my notebook doodles!

So, Morgan has borrowed books that I used in high school for her classes in the past and she likes to comment on my random and sometimes frequent doodling. Today on the train back from Rennes I photo-documented all of the doodles from my notebook for one of my classes here and I've compiled them into this post! This is the class that all of the public health students have together, and it encompasses 3 total public health classes. It's also the class that went to Rennes.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that doodling = slacking off! (This is directed to you Mom and Dad.) I, like many people, have doodled since middle school and it hasn't affected my schoolwork thus far. Here we go!

(If you need to enlarge these pictures to play my "find it" games, just click on an image and it should open up in a new window to appear larger.)

Can you find the following objects in this doodle?

-Footsteps, batman symbol, clock, maple leaf, normal leaf, acorn, birds, ocean, octopus, stingray, trees, fish

We had a lot of lectures in Rennes and they were all guest lecturers. One of our lecturers was French-Canadian.

One of our lecturers was explaining how countries use different but specific methods to tackle issues (something that has already been covered ad nauseam back in class in Paris).

Ok, I'll cover this in the Rennes post, but there was a spider in our class Tuesday afternoon, and the spider was huge enough to freak out everyone who saw it (about half the class). Everyone around me was incapable of paying full attention to our lecturer because the spider ended up under the heater directly behind my chair. We all had our feet up on our seats.

I saw this girl on the Metro with a really cute and comfy outfit on so I was taking note of it in my notebook when I remembered it in class.

Two students from the public health school we were staying at gave a lecture on what goes into becoming a hospital director.

One of our lecturers had a shirt that said "The Adventures of Oliver Twist" on it, and it was semi-see through which meant I could see that her bra was neon pink with green ribbon detailing. I thought this was really funny since she's French so she's supposed to be impecably dressed. I wanted to draw her so I could remember to put it in my blog later. First I drew the shirt and then I added her head, short bob, and glasses, but I made her head way too small for the shirt. I tried to fix it by making her hair bigger. I also wanted to include the shirt and bra wardrobe malfunction so I drew a bra over her shirt. Then I realized I was drawing a bra on a woman in my notebook and that anyone could peer over and decide I was really creepy. I drew horizontal stripes on her shirt to disguise it.

I don't really have an explanation for the boy looking off into the sunrise behind a mountain.. I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I could draw a person with normal proportions. (I didn't..I kept having to add hair so his head would match his body).

The doodle below was actually during our group presentations in Paris on a day when we had French from 10:15 to 12:00 and then public health from 12:30 to 7:00. I drew this during the last presentation on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation when I simply couldn't concentrate anymore.

Can you find the following objects in this doodle?

Shark, dolphin (2), sun, tortoise, lots of fish, octopus (2), seaweed, clam, eel, squid, angelfish, sunken vessel, crab

Look for a new post in the next couple of days!

Love,

Hillary

Bed Bugs- An Update

Hello friends!

When we last left off with my bed bug problem I had just woken up from a nap with bites. It ended up amounting to 6 bites, including on one my eyelid.

I changed mattresses and changed sheets but woke up the next morning with 4 more bites. After that I bought a sleeping bag (from Au Vieux Campeur) that I've been sleeping in on top of my covers, and haven't been bit again since that second time. Yesterday morning a specialist and the dorm manager-guy (I don't know his title) were in here to check it out, but I was in a library tour and haven't yet heard the verdict. My refund request (for sheets and sleeping bag) was rejected because they said I'd been offered to sleep in an empty room and had turned it down, wanting to switch mattresses instead. It's true that the dorm manager-guy offered for me to sleep in an empty room, but that sounded A) scary, B) unnecessary, and C) like a hassle. Plus, that wouldn't have solved the problem of my bed bugs quickly, which would have left it possible for my roommate to get them as well.

When I met with him that afternoon, I showed him the bites along my arms and his first response was to look at me skeptically and say: "Bed bug bites usually come in threes.." He then proceeded to pull up google and he googled "bed bug bites." What we found didn't say anything about them coming in threes, and the pictures looked exactly like my bites. He assured me that he would get it taken care of immediately. I asked him if that meant that night, and he said no, because everyone had gone home. This was Thursday at 4pm. It was then that I asked to be allowed to switch mattresses and he told me I could just sleep in an empty room if I wanted. I preferred to sleep in my own room. Monday evening I received an e-mail from the dorm manager-guy that told me he was sending in someone to look at the problem Wednesday morning, but that he doubted it was bed bugs. He also asked me to not say anything about the possibility of bed bugs to my other dorm-mates so that I wouldn't scare people.

Here was my response:

Jean-Christophe,

Sure, Wednesday morning is fine. I appreciate your taking this matter seriously. Although to be honest Jean-Christophe, I don't know how you have any authority to be able to say that it "does not seem likely that it's bed bugs." After two nights getting bitten (including the new mattess), I've purchased a sleeping bag to protect myself. It's working so far. Could you please put me in contact with your supervisor? I intend to request a refund for costs incurred due to the bugs.

You are absolutely right, bed bugs are a serious matter and I don't intend to keep this knowledge to myself if, perhaps, someone asks me why I have switched mattresses and am sleeping in a sleeping bag. This is something other students should be aware of.

P.S. There was a cockroach on our floor this morning- in the hallway. Just thought you may want to know.

Thank you,

Hillary

I have a meeting with him tomorrow afternoon, maybe then I'll be told the verdict. Until then, I continue to sleep in my sleeping bag.

Love,

Hillary

Goodnight, sweet dreams, and don't let the bed bugs bite!!!

Oy ve,

Not again.

A couple days ago a girl on my floor was complaining that while she's been sleeping she's been getting tons of mosquito bites. They were all over her arms and her face. I doubted they were mosquito bites, but I didn't know what else they could be...other than the mythical bed bug (which I know exists but to me it only existed in super gross conditions..or back in the days of straw mattresses). Oh..what a fool I was.

I just woke up from an hour long nap with 4 to 5 semi-itchy bites along my arms. I know they aren't mosquito bites because the only thing close to a mosquito I've seen in France was a monster mosquito/fly/dragonfly thing floating around my room, and a little green mosquito looking thing. I think it's bed bugs. The maids are supposed to wash our sheets for us every 5 weeks. My plan was to wait for the 5 week mark to get my sheets washed. The problem could be one of 2 things.

It may be due to the fact that these sheets are super hard and aren't cotton. They don't breathe at all, so even though it may be really cold in here at night, I sweat like it's 100 degrees in here without a fan. Even in Bolivia the sheets were cotton. They only gave us one set even though we were told "linens will be provided." If I'd known they meant "we will give you one scratchy old towel and one set of puke pink sheets and we won't clean them for 5 weeks," I'd have brought one or two extra sets. And my cotton twin sheets at home are pretty! The pillow case they gave us doesn't fit on the pillow we were provided, so we can't use it. Thank goodness I brought my tie-dye pillowcase from home so that I could have a little piece of home!

Moving on to the pillow- this pillow is not new. My guess is that it is 3-5 years old. The material inside has formed into clumps. If you lay your head on it, it is flat as an envelope within 30 seconds.

I think the bed bugs are either because I sweat a ton at night due to these sheets made of who knows what, OR because this pillow is ancient.

Sigh. Laundry costs 4 euro (2 to wash 2 to dry). There is no guarantee that I can even get an empty dryer tonight. I don't want to sleep in this bed with these sheets tonight.

Love a very perplexed,

Hillary