Video can be fun

These are some of the things I did this summer (they don't look as good on YouTube, sadly):



So look forward to more video (as well as some traditional posting) from this weekend and from Italy.

Coming Soon...

So I can now promise a fun and photo-filled update in two weeks. Here's a little MSPaint-style preview:

"Of course I have played outdoor games. I once played dominoes in an open air cafe in Paris.”

So I finally have material to write about again. This past weekend had a fairly uneventful Friday and Sunday, but a very fun Saturday. Friday the trip to Chateau Malmaison was postponed on account of the strike (which has since ended). So I slept in, and then spent the day reading. I finally finished off the ninth of the Nine Stories and re-read Watchmen. We were going to go out that night but by the time plans came together, I was ready to call it quits, so I bailed on the group, read this New Yorker piece by Alex Ross, and went to bed.

Saturday I met up with Tony after his Germany lesson to grab some dinner. We were supposed to go see this Rite of Spring at the Pompidou Center, but some friends had gone the night before and warned us that it was not the ballet we were all expecting, but rather some performance artist’s interpretive dance/conducting to a recording, so we didn’t feel too badly about avoided that. Instead, we met up with Gracie, Patrick, Garret and their friends Emily and Trudy to go back up to Oberkampf. That neighborhood is starting to become a weekend spot for us.

One thing I’ve noticed while out among the nightlife in this city is that all the music that gets played is American or at least in English. We went through The Cure, Mika, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, The Strokes, and Franz Ferdinand, a voyage through two decades, but there wasn’t a single French artist to be found. The closest I’ve come yet has been Daft Punk, but they sing in English. The government evidently noticed this too, a while back, and mandated that all radio stations have to fill something like at least 40% of their playtime with French language music. Even then, most of that ends up being Canadian artists. So lesson: quotas fighting American cultural hegemony don’t work because you can’t regulate tastes.

This morning I had probably the easiest French test I’ve ever taken. Conditionnel, futur simple, and un peu de temps. After class I met up with Delphine and Clarissa to search out this small Indian district up in the 10th (N.E. Paris). It was a tiny little street, almost an alley, full of Indian restaurants and grocers. I was finally able to find some well-spiced curry for the first time over here, asking for it plus épicé. A really terrific meal. One thing I love about Evanston is having numerous Thai, Indian, and pan-Asian place within a few block of the apartment.



We then trekked a ways southeast to Pèrre Lachaise Cemetery, the most famous in Paris. Among its notable residents are Jim Morrison, Chopin, Molière, Sara Bernhardt, and Oscar Wilde, as well as several leaders of the country. Flowers are still regularly left on these graves and the cemetery was full of visitors looking for these notable deceased. Oscar Wilde’s grave is a particular standout. The large stone, with vaguely art deco-ish carvings, is covered in notes, quotes, and hundreds of kisses left in pink lipstick. A grand gesture rather fitting Wilde’s flamboyant persona, it has become tradition for women (and I’m sure more than a few men) admirers to leave these in tribute.



Later in the evening, I attended a live television taping at the Canal+ studio, a popular news/talkshow called Le Grand Journal. After an extensive security procedure, we were strategically seated to balance out color, and then led through the ropes of applauding. The guests on this edition Jean-Pierre Raffarin (ex-Prime Minister under Jacques Chirac), an activist for the poor, Marc Lavoine (singer/actor), and part of the French rugby team including Frédéric Michalak. I occasionally lost the thread of discussion, especially when the activist and Raffarin started yelling at one another over whether the government or associations did a better job protecting the poor, but it was quite interesting to watch and see how the show itself was produced as well. So I can now say (stretching) I’ve been on French television. You could definitely see me in the backgroud in some shots.



It looks like I’ll be heading off for a few days in Italy next week, spending one day in Milan and a few in Rome during the Toussaint Holidays. So now that I think I have my time frame lined up, I need to go to the train station tomorrow to get tickets booked, so I can then book accommodations. Once those are all set, I will be able to breathe again.

I'm taking advantage of this small breathing space in my workload before it starts piling up again. Having finished off the Sallinger, I started Howard's End (say it fast, it sounds like Howard Zinn), which, once done, I think will leave me only two books from my supply I haven't finished. And a month and a half. One of my better packing jobs. Also, looking at these pictures, I'm getting badly in need of a haircut. It's been almost two months, which is a long time for my hair.

Credit for this week's quotation goes to Oscar Wilde.

The Break-Up

Update: So the rumour that Line Four of the metro was in service turned out to be true. I still walked back though. After class I went down to catch it, saw that there was a 20 minute wait (must have only been one or two trains in service on the line), and decided that I'd be two-thirds of the way back anyway. Got a nice stroll through the Jardins de Luxembourg.



For anyone who hasn't seen it on the news yet, French President Nicholas Sarkozy has separated from his wife. Evidently it is by mutual agreement, and they both seem to have other relationships ongoing already. One of my professors made an interesting media relations point about this in class today. Rumors had been circulating for a while about this; I remember seeing some almost two weeks ago. But the timing of offical annoucement was planned to be released yesterday afternoon, so that it would be on the newstands today, diverting attention from the strike. Two observations on this. First, the French seemed to take it for granted that Sarkozy had a mistress and haven't seemed to care at all about the divorce. According to my French teacher, they all are completely willing to separate the private life from the public figure. Which leads to the second point: if this were happening in America, I'd say odds are good that a politician would try to use the strike story to bury the separation. Preferably on a Friday afternoon. This divorce is raising some interesting legal issues for the French, namely the question of whether it is even possible, given that the Constitution bars legal action from being brought against the President. Both candidates from the Presidential race how left their partners: Ségolène Royal left her partner François Hollande back in June after losing the race to Sarkozy. As you can see, I've decided this needed some commemorative photoshopping.

Strike Update

So the streets are a mess of cars and mopeds, but the walk wasn't so bad actually. I grabbed my Starbucks and made it to school in half the time I had given myself. In the wilderness between Denfert-Rochereau and St. Germaine, I managed somehow to get off my path, but figured as long as I kept the sun on my right I could continue North despite the random angles of street direction.

Update: Once I got to French class I found out that half the metro lines were running today, including mine. Oh life. At least it saves me the return walk.


Photo: Alexandra Samur

An interesting story I came across while checking up on news and blogs this morning. Evidently over the last two weeks Toronto has been struck by a graffiti artist who appears to have a slight infatuation with Gustav Mahler. Washington DC evidently had their own Mahler graffiti back in 1976. In the great oneupmanship of urban art, I'm sure before long we'll see our neighborhoods tagged with the likes of Schnittke and Meyerbeer. (Via The Rest Is Noise)

All Sorts of Fun

If everything went according to the announced plans, the transit workers in France began a strike this evening. Thus, no metro, no trains, no busses, no planes. This is in response to potential plans looking to incrase the retirement age by two years as a possible method of dealing with the looming funding crisis that will be attacking the nation soon as the population ages. The (political) problem with welfare policies is that is impossible to take them away. The same reason that the Common Agricultural Policy holds on well beyond what's needed.

On a less-national level, this is just extremely inconvenient. (Almost as much as trying to print in the library here. Today, there was one working printer, only about six computers from which you could print, and it requires about seven steps.) Walking is looking like my best bet to get to class tomorrow, for which I'm giving myself at least an hour and a half. It's only about two and a half miles, but I've only ever gone underground, so there will be many stops to check the map. We were supposed to have a Halloween party this evening (yes, very early) but had to take a raincheck. Though getting back is always tricky, given how early the metro shuts down at night normally, it would have been a pain getting there as well. A trip to visit the Chateau Malmaison on Friday for class is in question now, dependent on how long this goes on.

The professors don't think it will last terribly long - unlikely that it will be another 1995. What has amazed me is how in-stride all the French have been taking this. Evidently, from what I've heard and read, they tend to take these as part of the normal relations between the state and various sectors, putting up with the inconvenience for the sake of right, activism, and the like. I doubt I'll be as magnanimous as I'm wandering my way up the Boulevard Raspail tomorrow morning. Also, seeing as this isn't New York, I'm doubting there will be tee-shirts celebrating our survival once it's all over.

I'll give you updates as this goes along. Hopefully it's short and doesn't cause too much trouble for my weekend plans.

Headscarves in France

So I over-studied for the midterm again. Staying up late to finish readings, meeting before classes for a study session and then last minute cramming while we grabbed lunch. Overkill. I always expect to be asked something more than to simply trace a coherent argument regarding the general trend at which we’ve been looking. Today is was the reasons for the decline of French state power in the economy. Post-war dirigisme, ENA and state-business ties, industrial plan, Monnet, government spending, inflation, exchange rate mechanisms, oil, war, Nixon, end of Bretton Woods, privatization, liberalization, European integration, SEA, EMU, Maastricht, globalization, pensée unique. And then the counter: government adaptation, European-level protection of standards, thirty-five hour work week.



Following the exam, we spent the next hour and a half engaged in a discussion of the 2004 ban on the wearing of the hajib and other headscarves in French schools. 1, 2 It was interesting to hear the position of the French students, who tended to side with the law, in the interests of maintaining the public space of the school as an area free of religion and in the interests of protecting the rights of girls who may not want to wear the hajib but feel pressured to by family or peers. The French conception of religious freedom is quite different from that of Americans. It is founded on the principle of laïcité, the basic secular nature of the state. In practice its separation of religion from political life tends to extend to removing religion from all public life, a sentiment expressed by those French students who commented. Thus, they felt, it was appropriate to prevent such religious displays in schools, be they hajib or crosses.

Additionally, they made an argument that because of social pressures, both from families and from peers, there were some young Moslem women who wore the scarves not as a personal choice, but as a necessity for safety, to avoid conflict with fathers and brothers or being bothered in the streets of more traditionally Moslem neighborhoods. The state, they said, had a role to step in and create an environment where no one would face that pressure, by removing all religious displays from the school.

Some of the Americans in our group found that argument compelling, but what seemed like the majority of those joining in the discussion felt this went outside of proper state action, to the point of anti-religious policy. One particularly interesting opinion was that of a Moslem woman in our group. The hajib is worn in modesty and is part of the religious worship and practices of many women, by choice, because it is something important to them in their faith. With such a central place, restricting its use was basically a restriction on an article of the faith. Others Americans expressed similar ideas, noting that this was a personal action that didn’t impose upon anyone else the way organized school prayer would (to draw parallel to an instance of religion being banned from American schools).

On the issue of family pressure, in the case of the children and teenagers this law was directed towards, many felt that it was along the lines of other parental requirements for modest dress any parent might require (“You’re not leaving my house wearing that mini-skirt” as one example.) The idea of the state coming between parental rules and the child in this situation seemed overreaching. Furthermore, while banning the headscarves in school provided an area free of peer pressure there, it did nothing to address the streets and neighborhoods where, from what we were hearing, the real pressure (and very possibly danger) to those women who went sans scarf was problematic.

Looking at the difference of opinion, there are two key factors about the French and American conceptions of the state that I see as background for these viewpoints. The American nation, especially at its conception is a federal system. Americans are not only Americans, but also members of their individual states, regions, and increasingly in more recent history identified with their ethnic histories as well. Thus, being an American necessarily involves a somewhat tangled web of identities. The French meanwhile have historically worked to reduce regional differences, unite the nation around Paris, implement the same law, language, and systems across the entire country, and derive national unity from developing French as the primary identity of its citizens. Regional governments did not come into play until the very recent past. Thus identity has been a more unified concept, and as such would seek to avoid elements that draw clear distinctions in its citizens.

Furthermore, the French have always expected a greater level of involvement from their state. Just look at their social welfare programs – they’re extensive and supported by high taxes because the people are willing to pay for that much involvement. Another case, the post-war economic dirigisme. Americans, meanwhile, have always seemed to treat the government as more of a background figure, there as a safety net of sorts when its needed, keeping things orderly but not getting overly involved. Half of the political system gives at least lip service to the idea of limiting government. So while the Americans felt that the French state overstepped its bounds, the French expected such action.

It’s core differences like these that I find fuel most of the divergent views we’ve experienced with our French classmates in discussion.

My Visitors

An illustration of where you are reading from.

First by country: (Click to enlarge.)


And then by city:


This feels so Big Brother-y.

“In Paris they simply stared when I spoke to them in French; I never did succeed in making those idiots understand their own language”

Yesterday I re-read the better party of Salinger’s Nine Stories. The constant mention of New York and Connecticut had me thinking about home for a while. I had my homesick period during the third week here, a few days when I was acutely feeling the differences and wanting oversized portions of American food, but it passed quickly. It seems for most people that period hit them this week. I’ve had at least three different conversations with people who started feeling all that this week. It seems pretty much a phase that everyone is going through at some point. Mine was brought on by hearing about my roommates’ return to Evanston, others seem triggered by news from friends or finding themselves living a long distance relationship. I’ve decided that the length of the program is probably the perfect time for me. It strikes the balance between being here experiencing the culture and the city, and falling too far out of the loop back home. I don’t think I would want to do a full year, but this time is great.

Last night, my hostess had over some friends to watch the rugby world cup semi-final, England against France. This competition has been a big deal this year, bigger than usual, because the games are being hosted in Paris. A few weeks back, I watched a match on the screens outside the Hôtel de Ville (the city hall) and it resembled Times Square on New Year’s Eve a bit. This England-France match was close for its better part, until England pulled ahead in the last ten minutes. They extended their lead and then held the French at bay through the end. France was eliminated from the finals. The reaction from the assembled hosts and neighbors was unexpectedly large. Lots of yelling at the television, cursing the English. And perhaps, most unexpectedly, lots of reference to Joan of Arc. It was like – hey, history! It’s funny, the place that comes back into play.

Last Saturday was the Nuit Blanche, a fall festival of sorts. We began the evening with a birthday party for one of my program friends, hosted at the apartment of one of the French students. Pizza, France beating New Zealand in the quarter-finals, and cake. I ended up bailing on plans to meet Tony and Gracie to go back to Le Showcase because I just didn’t have the energy for something so late that night, and instead stayed with the program group to check out the Nuit Blanche festivities. Along our path we found an actor recreating some speech from a balcony about the libraries, crowds everywhere in the streets, the plaza at the Louvre crowded for an event that remains a mystery, and the Tuilleries filled with fire. Pots of flame lines the walkways, frame sculptures hung with jars of flame sat throughout, there were tubes that occasionally shot flame to the sky. You would think packing people into an area of so much open flame would be a bad idea, but I didn’t actually see anyone on fire. We made it though, watched some of our companions ride the Ferris wheel at Place de la Concorde, and then called it a night, just in time to catch the last metro back. This night began a bizarre week of coincidental meetings. In the Tuilleries we managed to run into several of our program members amongst the crowds and then on the metro I ended up in a car with a friend of Tony’s girlfriend. Sunday was then used to take care of readings and presentation assembling.



This last week has been, if not uneventful, at least low key. Monday, we spent French class conducting a scavenger hunt in the Marais, the city’s Jewish quarter. Just lots of running around finding names of famous museums and cafes and figuring out the purposes of different tubes on the side of the Centre Pompidou. Really terrific falafel for lunch after. After the rest of my classes that afternoon, I sent Priyanka a text about trying to get together sometime soon. On the metro, returning home, who should enter my car at Monteparnasse, but Priyanka? We wandered around our neighborhood for a bit, figuring out finally how all these streets lined up and grabbed an afternoon snack. The afternoon snack, I have discovered, is essential. Meal portions are small and it’s impossible to go from a noon lunch to an eight or nine o’clock dinner without one. The French seem to have an obsession with carbs (a topic that came up in French class last week, noting that they’re also dismissive of protein and fruit), and somehow all that bread just isn’t filling for long enough.

Tuesday was our Czech Republic presentation, of which all that is essential is that the spectre of Russia and the inspiration of Vaclav Havel pretty much shape the entirety of Czech-EU relations. That evening I met up with John to see this French film about the Algerian War that had interesting-looking posters, L’enemie Intime. It was well done and, not knowing all that much about the war, served as a good bit of history too. Several elements of the war’s methodology and tactics reminded a lot of Vietnam. From what I could tell, it has a similar psychological place for the nation as well. Wednesday and Thursday were more class, with some naps, as I found myself exhausted midweek. Thursday after class, walking around with John and Jonas, I ran into Priyanka, again, out exploring with Dartmouth people.

Friday we ended up with no trips, as there are no reform Mosques and Friday prayer times aren’t really conducive to group visits. In the evening I met up with Tony, Garret, and Freya to explore the area up around Oberkampf, which was supposed to have a bit of a Village-y atmosphere. I wouldn’t say it did, but it was still fun and we finally found good-ish music on the third or fourth try. Wandered back south and ran, yet again, into Priyanka and friends, who had been looking for Oberkampf, unsuccessfully until that point. We will have to actually get our friends together someplace that isn’t the middle of the street. Tony and Garret were hungry to we ended up back off of Rue de Temple at the one open creperie and then walked down and sat in the plaza outside of the Pompidou. The conversation soon wandered to politics, I think my fault when I mentioned Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize co-win, which prompted a discussion of whether political figures can be legitimate front men for scientific topics, then moving to international news, looking at why the Armenian genocide bill was causing hubbub, to the philosophy questions raised by torture in Iraq, and finally to the presidential race. At this point I think I ended up going on for about forty-five minutes as we headed off in search of the noctillion busses, overshot our destination to the Louvre, and circled back to Chatelet. This is what I get for having half a dozen different election podcasts in my subscription list. We managed to get Freya onto her bus, but then Tony couldn’t figure out how to get back, so I split a cab with him, after crossing back over the Left Bank to find one that would actually go south.

Saturday was Salinger, class reading, and the rugby match, and then today has mostly been spent preparing for another midterm. It’ll be the last one for France and the EU, so that’s an upside at least. Only I’ll have to write another on Tuesday for Law- and Decision-Making in the EU. But classes have been going well.

I think that’s about it. Let’s see if Glen Gould and the Goldberg Variations will help me concentrate through the remainder of this chapter. Sorry this installment has been so unillustrated. I've been forgetting my camera when things get intersesting.

Night.

The quotation is Twain's, by the way.

Comments

So I hadn't realized comments had been restricted before. They're now open without any registration. Not that this is begging for more or anything.

Weeks Four and Five: Belgium and Friends

So what have I been up to? A lot. It’s been almost two weeks since the last real update. Both of them seem to have flown by. This is the end of week five, bringing us officially to the one-third mark. Apologies for the wait, also. I’ll add another entry on the French or something to make up for it later this weekend.

So, what I can remember for the week four recap? Monday we spent French class scavenging Montmartre, the neighborhood of Paris famous for its artists, cafes, and hills. Since the scavenger hunt didn’t count for much, we found the bits that interested us then grabbed lunch in order to have time for review before our midterm later that day. (A note: this was my first midterm and it fell on the same day that began the quarter back at Northwestern. I feel it was my glimpse into life at normal schools.) The midterm was in France and the EU and focused on the point that Professor Loriaux seems to have made it his mission to drive home to us: that the French state is the backbone of France. This was the repeated topic of every class leading to that point. The upside, of course, was that this made it fairly easy to prepare for the midterm. So, because I had basically assumed the question ahead of time, I also had an essay planned out, threw in a bit of extended metaphor that managed to include Athena and Pygmalion, and had it over without much pain. And it sounds like I ended up with a much more organized paper than many other people to whom I talked. I don’t remember doing anything the following Tuesday (aside from class), but that’s probably because I didn’t, because it rained. This week marked the beginning of a solid ten-day period of non-stop rain. Which led to listening to lots of Tom Waits, The Smiths, The Ballad of Baby Doe, Billy Budd and covers of Randy Newman (I like his songs, just not when he sings them).

On Wednesday Lindsay arrived from Toulouse with her program for their stay in Paris. I met up with them briefly in between events at a café. Thursday was more class, and the discovery that when my professor says debate, it really only means student-led discussion. That evening I met up with Lindsay & Co. at the Eiffel Tower, where I finally went up. I had been waiting for someone to come to town to do so, since everyone wants to anyway and it’s always more fun with friends. It’s actually a lot of fun, even if it is the most touristy thing you can do in Paris. And that heights thing that used to bug me seems to have gone away. Paris is very interesting to observe from up high. The city’s layout is a mess, streets packed in every which way, not at all the clean grid of other cities, so from above it’s a fascinating sprawl of lights and buildings. We managed to pick out the notable buildings without using the maps and then decided to call our families from the top. I left a message, which it turns out cut off, leaving only the bit where I announced where I was. (Click to enlarge images).



Friday was another day trip, this time to Giverny, home of Claude Monet (not Jean Monnet, see below). It was raining, so the gardens were probably a lot less picturesque that they normally are, but the lake and stream where he painted the famous bridge and water lilies were beautiful. (Fun fact, my roommate Matt has this painting on a fleece blanket we keep on our wall.) Went back to the Louvre for the second week in a row that night, this time with John, and saw the Venus de Milo, which I had managed to miss last time. We also found the Starbucks in the Louvre. I should probably track down that picture of me in front of it, seeing as it’s become my American comfort food of choice while I’m here.



Spent Saturday wandering Paris with Lindsay. We began at the Sacre Coeur in Montmartre, which has great stained glass, on the steps watched a show that made me scared of clowns again, and walked down to see the Moulin Rouge. Sad to report, there are no giant elephant apartments. Colorful neighborhood – a bit like a pre-Guiliani 42nd Street. Took the metro from there down to the Île de la Cité, and then wandered the Fifth and Sixth. The Indian restaurants here have all been good so far, even if they do tend to bland down the spices. Actually the French don’t seem to do spices so much. Priyanka called just as we were finishing up, so we met her for a bit before we all had to take off.



Week five began with the Brussels trip. We left Monday morning and came back Tuesday evening. The train was easy enough, even if I just barely made it there in time to leave. (Note: The lines at ticket machines on the first of the month are much longer than should be expected.) Read some Bret Easton Ellis for a bit, then when I switched over to my Jasper Fforde audiobook I fell asleep pretty quickly (no fault of the book). We arrived at the Central Station, dropped our things off at the hotel (somewhat reminiscent of Swansea’s Dolphin, but without skeleton keys) and wandered for a bit. Found the Central Square and sampled waffles. Then it was back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group (half of us had gone to Amsterdam for the weekend and arrived from there). I hadn’t even thought to bring an umbrella with me, so everything in Brussels has taken place trying to stay under other people’s. The bulk of the day’s time was spent at NATO (or OTAN for our friends who put the adjectives last). We had three two-hour lectures from various staff, focusing on NATO organization, missions, and post-Cold War transformation. Really very interesting, informative, and may play into paper topic ideas for one of my classes. The really fun part, though, was the swag (Note: The promotional merchandise they gave out). It was one of those lucky days when my irresponsibility was rewarded and, lacking my own, I was given a NATO umbrella, in addition to the standard hat, notepads, pens, and booklets.

Tuesday we visited the European Commission, also housed in Brussels. Something I realized visiting these places, looking at the city beyond the historic square: Brussels isn’t a terribly attractive or interesting city. I wonder how public opinion would react towards the EU had it been headquartered in Nice, for instance. The Commission was a good visit. We again had a series of presentations: EU/Commission Structure, US-EU Relations, and Eurozone Development. These corresponded well with the material we have been covering in Professors Grossman and Saraceno’s classes. Here, we received only folders and tote bags, useful though not quite as fun as that NATO umbrella. The Commission gave us a nice lunch, too. After the visit we had time to grab dinner and then met the train back to Paris.



It’s finally stopped raining since we got back, and while this is generally a good thing, I am a little disappointed I don’t have the chance to use the umbrella. I’m a little obsessed with it; it’s a really nice umbrella. Classes finished up the week well, including the very interesting Fed-ECB comparison (inflation and growth objectives) we looked at today with Saraceno.

And it’s somehow the weekend again. I suppose this week feels like it never happened since we spent half of it in Belgium. Looking forward to getting together with Priyanka as well as the Tony, Gracie, Garret group, since I haven’t seen them since they got back from Normandy, and getting them to all meet each other.. I think there are also some special citywide events this weekend in addition to first-Sunday-of-the-month free museums. And the down time will let me watch American TV (sorry Mom, I know this causes you pain). Yet another reason the internet is great. There are all these sites that stream every show you can think of, so it lets me feel a little less cut off from that half of the world. And, c’mon, it’s premier season – how else am I supposed to know what to get TiVo-ed? And you can’t say I’m not keeping busy or reading (back down to being the middle of three books).

So until next time. And the whole album as linked below: http://northwestern.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2095542&l=569c8&id=2411663


Une parapluie, mais pas de Cherbourg.

Mea Culpa

I'm sorry. I've been remiss and didn't update this past weekend. But I just got back from two days in Brussels and offer up pictures until I have time to put together some thoughts on the last week and a half.

The pictures:
http://northwestern.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2095542&l=569c8&id=2411663

The short version of the trip: It rained a great deal in Brussels, so NATO gave me an umbrella.