The past week or so has been a whirlwind of exams, goodbyes, au revoir dinners, studying, and generally trying to see as much of the city before I leave for a month.  Today I finished my last exam, and began cleaning the apartment and assessing what needs to be packed and what can stay here.  I fly back to the States this weekend for the holidays and won't return to Paris until mid-January.  I can already anticipate how much I will miss it.

I've been collecting links for a little while now, some on Paris and some on language in general.  Enjoy these while I get around to writing something more substantial.

• Insiders' guide to Bohemian Paris: Lots of good suggestions in here from locals, all pretty local off-the-beaten-track places.  Hope to report more on some of them, myself.
• Chocolate lover's guide to Paris: I will probably be doing this with my mom in January.
• How Germans really see English ad slogans: It's been popular in recent years to advertise in Germany using English slogans.  Turns out people only vaguely know what they mean, despite English words entering the German vernacular.
• On dubbing "The Wire" into German: Covers many of the difficulties in translating films and television shows, which often use slang and other words that aren't easily translatable.
• Uptake anxiety: I've always been annoyed?  By those people who seem to end everything with a question mark?  Turns out there's a name for it?  And more than just teenage girls are guilty?
• Cool places Americans can't visit: One day, Cuba, I will come for you.
• Ooh la langue:  A blog post on learning French, losing English, and all the little things in between.  100% true.  "There is no French equivalent that I know of for the phrase I know, right? And this saddens me. But maybe it's just because they don't know how good it could be. To just break out of their formality and say Je sais, vrai?!"