Day 18

The pub last night was all right. Not really my scene, but much better than a dance club or anything. A large group, not including me, went back tonight to watch France lose. Apparently it was lots of fun!

It's POURING outside. I got caught in the rain earlier and got soaked!! Long day of class today, and tomorrow is another field trip/luncheon extravaganza...

Breaking away from writing about the city for a bit, here's a few updates about me!

-- I'm getting very into Pilates. Random, right? I didn't know much about it a week ago, but I've done some research, and it's really cool. I could never get very interested in Yoga because of all the meditation and spiritual nonsense, but Pilates has none of that. It's a system of exercise developed during the 20th century which centers around flexibility and strengthening. I can't do any of the moves that require silly exercise bands and weights here, but I can do the mat exercises, which are the best ones anyway! The fun part is that I know so much already-- it turns out my favorite warmups that we used to do in Modern class with Ms. Strong were all taken directly from Pilates theory. So I even know some of the terminology! Anyway, I'm not using it for aerobic exercise-- we're getting a fair amount just walking around-- but I've missed the flexibility and strength that I used to have from dance, and I've accepted that I'm just not built right to be a dancer at the college level :-(... so I've been doing Pilates with the help of online videos whenever Isabelle goes out-- my abs are sore already! Maybe one day I can afford to take actual classes. 

-- Having tracked down postcards two days ago, and stamps and envelopes yesterday, I finally found a post box today! So you'll be getting a postcard sometime within the next week I would guess.

-- I really like the course. I think it's because I love reading novels but I hate writing analytically about them. So it's great that, although we discuss the novels in depth, this isn't a literature course! We're using the novels as windows into the time period, as artifacts of social history. Which is awesome! So I get to read all these really cool books, and I have 14 people to talk about them with, and we're not competing to see who can b-s about them best in an essay, so we can actually have candid discussions. It's like a book club. I'm also looking forward to our final paper, even though I have no idea what I'll write about, because it's more of a history research paper than anything else. 

-- A lot of people I've talked to strongly disliked the last book we read, the Vagabond, which was written by a woman in 190something. Although I, too, found the narrator annoying at times, I really related to her at other times. She is very introspective and has all these conflicting thoughts about being alone. She craves it, she is content with it, she despises it... The story was pretty interesting too. The woman, Renee, is in her thirties, divorced (which only became legal in the 1880s), and trying to make ends meet as a vaudeville singer. She thrives on her newfound independence but is emotionally scarred from the time she spent desperately in love with her abusive, philandering ex-husband, and is extremely guarded as a result. She is about to go off on tour with her vaudeville act when a rich man who lives off his mother's inheritance persistently begins courting her, offering her a life of marriage and luxury. Though she is at first taken in my his kindness and company, the cracks in their relationship begin to show. Ultimately, alarmed by his disinterest in her as a person and his fixation on "keeping" her, Renee refuses to throw away her hard-earned autonomy and chooses the independence and uncertainty of gypsy life over marriage-- which, to her, means subjugation.

-- European grocery stores are the best. I've been trying lots of different healthy French yogurts, and my favorite so far is a Mousse made with Fromage Blanc (kind of like Fromage Frais) with raspberries and blackberries at the bottom. Yum!

-- Chris's job at the GT is going well, but they've assigned him a terrible story. He's supposed to accost random people on the street and subject them to an extensive interview about how much money they make and what kind of lifestyle they lead. It's for a feature on the wealth disparity in Greenwich, but I can't imagine anyone's going to want to answer questions as personal as that. There are loads of questions too! No one's going to have the "time or inclination" to do that when they're grocery shopping! Poor Chris. It reminds me of some of my YDN stories. There's nothing in it for these people-- why would they agree to talk to you?? And asking people for interviews is so emotionally draining. Hopefully people are at least nice about it. Some of the college Deans at Yale were so rude that I burst into tears afterwards. I was lucky most of my stories at the Herald last summer were non-controversial/intrusive. Hopefully most of Chris's stories this summer will be lighter than this. 

Day 17

Loooong day today! It began at 4:20am with the loudest, scariest thunderstorm I've heard in a long time.

When the rain finally stopped, I set out on a "wander" that led me to the Ile-de-la-Cite, where I waited in line for an hour to see Sainte Chapelle. It was definitely worth it.

 This is the lower chapel.

 THIS is the upper chapel!

 Wow! Next I went to the Conciergerie. Not much to see. This is a picture of the main hall, and then I saw some of the cells where they held Marie Antoinette before executing her.

 Next I walked through the Marais district, and stopped at the Place des Vosges:

 And saw where Victor Hugo lived:

 And creeped on some little Parisian kids:

And walked back to St. John's! Got back around 6pm, got changed, and walked over to the Allens with Anne.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen are SO nice. And the apartment they're borrowing is tiny but beautiful. We went to a lovely brasserie (we should go there when you're here), where I ordered a delicious, though not particularly exotic, dinner. But Mrs. Allen let me try some of her smoked duck and foie gras, and I had some of a nutella crepe and LOTS of "glace a la vanille" for dessert. (Lucky I did so much walking earlier!)

Day 16

Musings:

- Feeding yourself three meals a day in Paris is stressful, and expensive! I'm glad I'm only here for five weeks, because my life savings wouldn't be able to last me too long at this rate!

Agenda:

Today was absolutely gorgeous. Blue skies, bright sun, temperatures in the 70's. I brought our next book, Cat Among the Pidgeons, and set off towards the 7th arrondissement. My first stop: l'Hotel des Invalides. Here are some pictures I took!!

It was commissioned by Louis XIV (the Sun King) as a hospital for wounded soldiers, but it's now the site of the Musee de l'Armee (the War Museum.)

I spent a long time in the exhibition on the Allies' liberation of the concentration camps at the end of WWII. It was absolutely horrifying. I've never seen such graphic video footage and pictures. Close ups of rotting dead bodies in mass graves... It horrifies me that there are people today who deny that the Holocaust ever happened.

Anyway, I then went into the chapel itself and saw Napoleon's tomb. The chapel was beautiful:

Next I walked all the way to the Eiffel tower and hung out in the park for a while reading-- the rest of Paris seemed to be there too!

Might let Isabelle convince me to go to a pub to watch the soccer tonight...
Happy Father's Day Dad! Looking forward to seeing everybody.

Day 15

Quiet first half of the day-- I read Colette's The Vagabond for hours. It's a quite interesting, stream-of-consciousness-style, early feminist novel, but it bothered me for many of the same reasons Proust's book did. Both books described "love" stories that I didn't think were love stories at all! In my opinion, both had one character who was desperately enamored with the other-- without really knowing him/her at all-- and another character who just fancied the attention but nothing more.

In both novels, the "love" the devoted character feels is nothing more than a paranoia that the person they have chosen to desire (for no particular reason, since he/she has no favorable qualities) does not truly "belong" to them and has a past or other suitors of which they are ignorant. These fears prove true, but they cause the devoted character to become obsessed, and this dread of losing the indifferent object of their "affections" makes them value that person all the more. All of which leads me to believe that they want the feeling of power and security that comes from "owning" someone, from possessing someone, much more than they enjoy the company of that person him/herself or even the idea of that person... It's complicated!

Anyway, this evening I tagged along with Isabelle, Zana and Grace to go see a movie-- Blanche Neige et le chasseur (Snow White and the Huntsmen). This one was an American movie, and it was much more violent and action-packed than I expected. I left the theater that evening feeling emotionally worn out!

The others were going on a picnic, and even though I'd already bought a dinner I was planning to make at St. John's, I made a big effort to be flexible and join them. We ended up eating in a park near the Bon Marche.

Back at St. John's now, and just finished The Vagabond. Planning on moving on to "Cat Among the Pidgeons" tomorrow.

Hope everyone is safe, healthy and happy!

Day 14

Long day today with the Pattersons!

Here's what we did: (Take a deep breath!)
Walked over to their hotel, walked to the Cathedral Saint-Germain des Pres, saw that, walked to the Musee d'Orsay, saw the Degas et le nu exhibit (lots of sketches and paintings of nude women-- felt kind of bad for Emily and Eliza!), saw the impressionists, tried and failed to get a river boat and ended up walking all the way to the Champs Elysees. Had a lovely lunch at a Brasserie, walked the entirety of the Champs Elysees, saw the Arc de Triomphe, CLIMBED the Arc de Triomphe, and got a cab back.

We were on our feet for about six hours!

Here are a few photos:

Oldest church in Paris!

 Musee d'Orsay-- used to be a train station!

 Arc de Triomphe

View from the Arc de Triomphe


Finally home, utterly exhausted, very happy because I got the fishbone out of my gum. Love to all!

Day 13

Not much to say about today! Got up really early to cram for my presentation and to do the writing assignment, which took much longer than I expected.

Got the presentation done! Kicking myself because I forgot to make a few crucial points.

Here are some of the cartoons I showed in my powerpoint about bicycles. My thesis was that the mass manufacturing (and subsequent lowered price) of the bicycle facilitated:

1) the emancipation of women (mobility, independence, less constrictive fashion, physical exercise)
2) the rise of advertising as bicycle brands competed
3) de-urbanization as commuting became possible
4) the rise of sports as entertainment (cycling clubs, velodromes for bike racing, the Tour de France)
5) the rise of excursionism, of taking day trips into the country, which decreased the isolation of small towns, encouraging them to build tourist industries and bringing in money.

Caption: The idea that a person should perform work previously relegated to animals struck some as comical, if not regressive. This caricature from Le Journal Amusant of 29 October 1868 lampooned the curious role reversal.

The rest of class was a lecture about impressionism, which would have been very interesting, except we were studying their use of color, and the projector was broken and didn't show the color red! Kind of problematic!

I was so exhausted from cramming all night that I spent the rest of the day at St. John's. Chris and I did a lot of research about Columbia housing because his form is due tonight. The Columbia dorms are ridiculous! Some are giant high-rises with 400 kids, and the student reviews say a lot of them have rat problems and are either party dorms or dorms where people pass like ships in the night and never really know who lives at the end of their long corridor.

We found an awesome potential solution though: the Living Learning Center. The LLC dorms are Wallach and Hartley, they are composed of large (7-11 people) co-ed suites with kitchens, and they are supposed to emulate family living-- each suite is mostly freshmen and sophomores, with three or four juniors and seniors. The rooms are supposedly nice, the dorms are alcohol-free (though it's not enforced), and it has a friendly, low-key reputation. Socially, it's hit or miss, but it sounded like a good bet to put as his first choice. Apparently transfers have priority in the lottery, so we'll see what happens. His second choice is Broadway, which is a standard high-rise that's newly renovated and has lots of doubles.

Sleep tight!

Day 12

Musings:

- Parisian buildings don't have Men's and Women's bathrooms. They have one bathroom with the word "Toilettes" on the door, and there are two stalls, one of which is for "Messieurs" and one for "Dames."

In other news:

Thank you so much for the tea, the passport, the camera cord, my jacket, and everyone's lovely notes (and the blue tack!) You guys are the best.

Today was our second field trip. This week: an architectural tour of the 6th arrondissement, and another extravagant lunch. Here's a picture of the place; the decor is very belle epoque. 

Anyway, it was a million times better this time because we got to choose our starter. You'll never guess-- I decided to try snails! I snapped some photographic evidence when the professor wasn't looking. They actually tasted really good! Probably because they were cooked in pesto.

Unfortunately, I've got a lot of work to do tonight. And the vending machine ran out of milk chocolate Kinder bars so I had to go with white chocolate! And my parents' friends all want to take me out to dinner. Sigh. #first world problems

Day 11

Musings:

- We have two fridges at St. John's: one for cheese, and one for everything else. Yup, it smells that bad.
- St. John's has a cafeteria (we're not on a meal plan so we can't use it) that shares its kitchen with the monastery next door. The door was open today, so I got to watch the rather comical scene of old men in long black robes waiting impatiently in line for mashed potatoes.
- French waiters in touristy areas don't think it's abnormal to comment on what you leave on the plate...
- French businesses that deal with tourists (clothes stores, cafes, etc) refuse to indulge your attempts to speak French. But the same doesn't apply in a cell phone shop! Be it SFR or Orange, speak in French or resort to sign language.
- Every French shop (of all sorts) I've been in plays American music. Weird. Apparently they think it's cool here.
- Some parking spaces have places to plug in electric cars.
- 90% of shops and cafes are closed on Sundays.
- They are far less creative with coffee here. Cappuccino, cafe au lait, expresso. That's it. Also, decaf? What's decaf? You can't even find it in the grocery stores.
- Cafes and restaurants don't start serving dinner until about 8pm.
- People smoke. Every minute, everywhere.
- Men wear fashion scarves. We snigger.
- The French don't see the need to refrigerate milk. Huh???
- You get the impression that some people just sit at cafes all day and don't do anything, because the cafes are always busy.

In other news:
- Read something online today that made me realize that the guy who played Riff in West Side Story is Jodi Picoult's son! I know: Woaaaah. Random, but yeah.
- Had a quick lunch with my professor and two other students today to discuss our oral presentations. My meal cost 50 euros. I can't even imagine what the weekly four-course feasts cost... It seems kind of disgustingly decadent to me. I don't know who's paying, but shouldn't they really slash the cost of the program and get rid of these lunches? Either that or use the money to reimburse us for Carrefour grocery costs.
- FINALLY doing laundry. Hopefully I don't end up dying my white jeans pink or anything. Architecture tour tomorrow. I have some major research to do for my presentation on Thursday.
- Chris got an email saying the Harvard waitlist is closed, and he kept up his grades this term, so he's officially going to Columbia! Very exciting.

Day 10

Today was quite uneventful, so this will be short! I spent the first half of the day meandering on my own over to the Louvre, checking out their entire "French painters of the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries" exhibit on the second floor, and wandering back.

They had some really beautiful paintings there, but I have a feeling I'm going to like their Dutch exhibit better-- fewer portraits and more water and boats! I'll try and see that the next time I go.

On the way there and back, I frequently stopped to pop into a boutique or a market.  I also found a GAP, a Zara and did a few laps of Le Bon Marche-- the prices are insane! I got asked for directions again (!) by an adorable elderly couple, stocked up on food at a Monoprix supermarket, and headed back to St. John's to spend the rest of the day working (and watching the latest Mad Men episode.)

I finally finished Proust and am now working on finishing Le Fin du Siecle (which I was supposed to have completed before the course even began... oops.) We were supposed to go see the Eiffel Tower tonight, but it's been pushed off indefinitely. I'm having lunch with my professor tomorrow (helppppp!) to discuss the oral presentation I'm supposed to be giving on Thursday, so we'll see how that goes...

Looking forward to hearing how Chris' first day of work and Pennie's exams went. <3

Day 9

PHOTOS ARE HERE!! http://tinyurl.com/c4yq2an


Paris on a Sunday looks like a ghost town. The shops are all boarded up with their metal gates pulled down, and only one out of every twenty cafes shows any sign of life. Where is everyone, you might ask? Simple: at the farmer's market. Isabelle and I ventured to the giant organic market on the Boulevard Raspail this morning to check it out. I got some fantastic photos, which hopefully you'll be able to see if you click on the link.

The smells were incredible. Fresh bread, rotisserie chickens, fancy quiches, fish, crepes being made right then and there, giant rounds of cheese, soaps of all shapes and sizes, hand-knitted sweaters, fruits, vegetables and more. I bought the best red bell pepper I've ever tasted.

After lunch we took the Metro over to the Hotel de Ville (the city hall) to watch the live screening of the finals of the French Open. We got there long before the game began, but the few seats there were were already taken, and we had to sit on the ground. Gradually the square filled up with Parisians, some of whom were die-hard Nadal fans, some of whom favored Djokovic, and most of whom seemed undecided but enthusiastic.

We stayed until the end of the first set, by which time the rain was beginning to really set in and our legs were starting to fall asleep from sitting on the floor for so long. Not only were we getting wet, but each additional umbrella raised around us blocked a bit more of the screen from view-- tension was building, and we didn't want to find ourselves in the middle of an argument.

We decided to go back on foot, which wasn't the best idea because we got caught in the shower, but at least gave us the satisfaction of a good walk, and I've spent the rest of the evening sorting through photos! Time to get to work on finishing Proust though.

Day 8

Hopefully you got your fill of sightseeing in my two previous posts, because today was not a touristy day! It was quite pleasant (and Parisian!) though.

After a simple but leisurely breakfast, Isabelle and I, our legs still sore from yesterday, decided that today would be a relatively lazy day. We wandered over to the Jardin du Luxembourg to try and knock out some of our reading for class. The trouble was, it was chillier than we expected. It was fun to see the park though. It was brimming with life, from old men playing chess, to groups of elderly ladies looking quite bizarre doing Tai Chi on the grass, to children taking rides on donkeys, to very tan women smoking cigarettes and flipping through magazines. Many a toy sailboat zoomed around the fountain. (Stuart Little, anyone?)

We tried to read, but it was simply too cold and windy to sit still. Every so often we'd get a glimpse of brilliant sunshine and warmth, but then the sky would darken again. Nevertheless, we sat shivering on a bench for a few hours before calling it a day and taking refuge in the nearby Cafe Madame, which we had pinpointed a few days earlier as a worthy destination. (Isabelle has to make it through seven months in the expensive city of Paris, so we only go to cafes when the cultural experience seems worth the 4-euro cappuccino splurge.)

We stopped at Carrefour on the way back to stock up on fruit, vegetables, cheese, yogurt, bread and snacks for the rest of the day, and we've been curled up in our beds reading Proust ever since! I've read nearly 300 pages though, so the day has been productive. 

We're reading one of the seven parts of Proust's In Search of Lost Time-- called Swann in Love-- which is about a former rake who falls desperately in love with a woman named Odette, who at first eagerly becomes his mistress, but soon begins to manipulate him. The characters are odious but very cleverly equipped with many negative qualities I can see in myself and those around me. Proust was evidently a fantastic sociologist, and I constantly find myself thinking "wow, he is absolutely right about that!" whether it's a description or observation about life, love, infatuation, social cues, social class, or all kinds of other minutiae. It's fascinating, but I admit a lot of the conclusions I'm drawing about humanity from his descriptions are super depressing.

Tomorrow we're going to try and watch the finals of the French Open on a big screen on the Ile de la Cite!

Lots of love, and please may you send me as many decaffeinated tea bags as possible, my camera cord and my olive J. Crew jacket? Mrs. Patterson's coming Tuesday, yes?

Day 7

Holy smokes, I'm tired!

I'm also kicking myself (and you, Mum!) for not getting my British passport renewed. All the museums I've been shelling 8-15 euros out to this week would have let me in for free if I could prove I was a citizen of the European Union under the age of 26...

We've had incredibly productive but exhausting day. We have four-day weekends here, so Isabelle and I planned ahead so we wouldn't end up sleeping the day away. We set off at 10, following the winding Rue de Sevres to the Rue du Bac, and all the way down to the Seine. It was a gray morning, but the Tuilerie gardens still looked beautiful. Our next destination: the Musee d'Orangerie.

This was my favorite museum so far, mostly because the size was actually manageable for one visit. The had a series of giant, round rooms that displayed Monet's cycle of canvases Les Nympheas. Having seen the water garden at Giverny myself, I was definitely able to appreciate these giant panels of swirling colors more easily.

But the real gems of the museum were downstairs, where a famous art collector's collection was on display. He had some of everything! Monet, Winslow Homer, Renoir, Manet, Degas, Cezanne, Picasso... It was incredible, and it was all there-- one great work right beside the next. I can't believe they all used to hang on his dining room wall...

Our legs were starting to hurt, but we pressed on to the Musee des Arts Decoratifs-- a giant museum of objects, furniture and textiles dating from the middle ages through to the present. The permanent collections were all very cool, but there was no way we could see it all, so we focused on the visiting expositions: one on Louis Vuiton... and another on Barbar the elephant!!

I couldn't move my legs by 2 in the afternoon, and we were starving, so we stopped somewhere to eat. Perfect timing. A torrential downpour began just seconds after the bread basket arrived. We rested for a bit at the restaurant after lunch and then kept walking. The rain had let up into a drizzle, and every so often the sun peaked through, only to disappear during the next squall. Nevertheless, we wanted to fit in one more destination-- the beautiful cathedral perched on l'Ile de la Cite: Notre Dame.

We'd spent many a euro that day, so we once again skipped the metro and walked all the way back to St. John's in the rain. It's only 6 pm, but I think we're done for the day! I've got some reading to do anyway: Swann's Way, by Marcel Proust. Also, I want to make a list of all the things I want to see in Paris over the next month.

Day 6

Looking at the weather forecast last night, I knew this morning before class was going to be my chance to do some sight seeing. Isabelle had to stay in and finish the worksheet and the corridor was dark and silent, so I headed out after breakfast to walk across the Seine towards the Louvre, which is about a 40-minute walk. I stopped in a few grocery stores on the way to continue my epic quest to find decaffeinated tea (I'd brought a box with me from the US, but I've since run out!) and even got mistaken for a Parisian when someone asked me for directions. :-)

I skipped the horrendous lines and made it to the priority entrance (don't I feel special with my year-long, unlimited pass?) in time to spend a good hour looking at the Venus de Milo and the rest of the exhibit of figures from Greek mythology-- so that class I took this spring HAS come in handy! I made it back to St. John's by noon, grabbed some lunch with Isabelle, and headed to class. The light drizzle turned into a deluge as soon as we stepped outside. Luckily, I had an umbrella, but my legs and shoes were soaked through by the time we arrive at l'Ecole.

We chose our oral presentation topics today, and I'm going to present on "the bicycle," which was apparently an important phenomenon during the Belle Epoque. We discussed Maupassant's "A Day in the Country" for a while, then listened to a two-hour lecture on the Dreyfus Affair, which became a bit dull rather quickly. I watched the lightening strike through the window and listened to the downpour, which was punctuated by the occasional crack of thunder.

When we left the classroom, however, the sun was suddenly bright and welcoming. Not having any plans, Isabelle and I tried to catch the others before they all disappeared, with limited success. A few people avoided the question, someone else was going to take a nap, and Sonya and Antonia were off to meet up with a friend. As it was so nice out, we decided to look around the Quartier Latin. It showered twice on our way over, but by the time we got to the Sorbonne, the weather was beautiful, and continued to be so as we wandered through the tourist-filled streets toward the Pantheon and eventually made our way home, cutting through the Jardin du Luxembourg, which was significantly more beautiful in the sunshine than it had been when we first saw it.

After several hours of walking, I'm pretty tired! I tried to meet up with some friends in Branford who are staying with host families, but our plans fell through again :-(  Not sure what I'll be up to tomorrow-- it's supposed to rain and storm some more, but Isabelle and I might try and see the Tuilerie gardens and the Musee d'Orangerie.

Day 5

Up late writing a YDN article, feeling pretty tired.

Long bus ride early the morning to Monet's garden at Giverny. Weather iffy, but garden was beautiful.

Four-course lunch at Les Nympheas, wine and all.

Didn't feel like going out with the others this evening. Made some supper and am now trying to pull myself together to take a walk at the Jardin du Luxembourg before it gets dark.

Love to all.

Day 4

Today I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. In the sleepless haze of frantically writing his final major assignment of freshman year, Chris had mixed up the time difference and thought it was 9am here when it was actually 7am!  Ah well. I needed to cram an alarming amount of reading in anyway before my first class, so I snuck down to the second floor, where one of many dark, motel-like corridors leads to a computer room in which I could use Skype without waking the whole monastery next door. After all, misery loves company, and this particular company is regrettably hard to come by thanks to a seven-hour time difference!

The book was Ladies' Paradise by Emile Zola, a late-nineteenth century work of realism that depicts the rise of a simultaneously opimistic and sinister consumer culture through the microcosm of a Parisian neighborhood on the rive droit, where a powerful, new invention-- the department store-- seduces hordes of society women into spending horrific amounts of money and crushes local businesses in the process. Might sound heavy but I enjoyed it.

Having done nothing all day but scan page after page until my eyes hurt and eat breakfast and lunch (we can keep food from Carrefour or le Grand Epicerie in the downstairs fridge), I crammed the last few pages of the 435-page monstrosity around 1pm, just in time to race over to l'Ecole, which is a 10 minute walk down the rue de Sevres.

Class is only twice a week, but it's three. hours. long. Today was our first day, and I barely made it through! The classroom is too small for the 16 of us, the chairs are made for kindergarteners, and there's only room for 8 students at the table. Furthermore, we got out late, so our plans to see the Musee Marmottan Monet in the 16th arrondissement were botched, and our stroll in the Bois de Boulogne there was interrupted by more wind and rain. But over the course of our fumbling first attempt to figure out the Metro, the five of us talked a lot about the course, and I discovered that I'm really enthusiastic about this time period and the books we're reading... though whether or not I enjoy class remains to be seen!

After getting some dinner (and Kinder chocolate bars!) next to le Bon Marche, my roommate, Isabelle (a rising Junior from Sydney, Australia who's taking a semester abroad this fall), and I decided the day might still be salvageable and found a French movie to go and see-- we've barely used the language thus far.

Success! I had my first non-embarrassing purchasing experience at the ticket booth, and thoroughly enjoyed the movie, a smart comedy about a dinner party for a group of five friends in their forties that seems conventional until a prank about naming a son-to-be Adolf unintentionally brings all kinds of tensions to the surface. To top off the evening, we even survived walking back from Montparnasse after midnight!

No photos yet I'm afraid :-( I left my camera cord at home. Along with warm clothing. Apparently I wasn't too bright while preparing for the City of Lights :P
 Bissous!