utensil birds: Weekend update

On friday our internet went out and we couldn't recharge it!

After school I went to meet Johan for coffee. Normally I wouldn't have gone but I was in no position to reject french friends. Also I was interested in his take on cultural differences, and I wanted to practice my french. That didn't work out, he asked if I turned red when I drank. I thought he asked if I wore blush to school.

After I got home, Carla came over with a bottle of wine. There was a party at the spiderman apartment but we had trouble getting a cab. We took the subway over but by then the groups had split up and were going out. We met up with Andy, Priya, Katie, Will, Courtney, Jeff, Julia, Carson off the Place de Clichy stop and we took a few trains to get to the 11th arrondissement which apparently had good bars. We stopped at one, it was small, graffiti on walls, 2 djs- older artsy grungy crowd. After a few drinks (vodka framboise was amazing, crushed raspberries), we left and walked around a bit and found a crepe place open at 3am.

Saturday Aurelle and I set out on a mission: Orange store to recharge our internet, and also to exchange our travelers checks. We headed over to L'Opera where the Gallery de Lafeyette is (an enormous shopping center) and we were told at the orange store that we couldn't recharge our internet in the store and had to do it online. I wondered, how could we do it online if we don't have internet? We did end up exchanging our travelers checks. After a bit of shopping, Julia came and met us for brunch. We wandered and found a cute place for much needed cafe au laits. Aurelle and Julia told me when they first met me, their first impression was that I was much more serious than I actually am. Aurelle didn't expect me to laugh as much as I do. We then headed over to le Marais to check out the vintage shopping. We found a few cute streets with bars, restaurants, and shopping- but the stores were so packed we could barely go inside. I bought a little striped sweater for 10 euros at one vintage store we went to, but I gave up sifting through the clothes since it was so hot and crowded.

by this point we were all exhausted. Aurelle and I headed home around 6pm. On the train, a little girl first threw her balloon on my head, then tapped me and started talking to me in english and regaling me with the story of her balloon. Recently, I had made it a goal of mine to be more open, friendly and approachable- I took it as a sign that my endeavor is so far successful because little kids have no basis of judgment beyond vibes.

After a bit more of a struggle on the phone with Orange trying to activate our internet, Aurelle and I both took a nap. I woke up around 8:30 and got dressed because Julia and Priya texted me about a party happening at the spiderman apartment. It was really cute- Jeff had so many bottles of wine, pastries, and bread & brie.

Iris and Julia wanted to go out, so Iris assembled a bunch of us and some other girls said they were going to Bagatelle but they had the wrong address. All of us in our separate cabs went through a bit of a nightmare because our driver said the address we had wasn't even in Paris. I was with Nassim and Priya. We got frustrated while stuck in traffic near the arc de Triomphe, so we turned back and went to the 15th arrondissement where Nassim lives. We were hungry and wanted crepes- no creperies nearby, but our cab driver drove us to a bar with food. No vegetarian food there, Iris came and met us and we had another drink and I was frustrated at this point because I just wanted to go home and we started in the 9th arrodissement where I lived and I should have just gone home from there. I took a cab after our drinks. It was about 3am.

Sunday: so much homework. We have to read an entire book by tomorrow, a few quizzes, and I have to have a passage memorized par coeur.

Sorry, these photos are in the wrong order.