La Semaine Folle

The week after our weekend in Paris, Dee and I experienced an absolutely insane week. Monday we took my sister with us and JP to our bar...always fun times there. And guess what people, I found a beer that I would prefer over chalk! Bière blanche (later note: it's 1664 white beer). Before that we had all gone out to dinner with ma grand-mère. My sister had gotten something with bbq sauce which I spread all over my pizza... How I've missed bbq chicken pizza! Tuesday night the four of us just hung out in my room. Wednesday however...oh boy. JP and his friend Gilles came over to hang out with the three of us, and everyone but my sister experienced their first power hour. Around 11 we left for the Polytech, and the party for students. I think we had more fun than most people there. French girls need to loosen up. Thursday morning my sister and grand-mère left for Paris, so it was just Crazy and Insane left to their own devices. Thursday night there was a party in a bar for the Erasmus students; so we went anyways. Nothing too crazy, jut out later than we had anticipated. I found out that people all over Europe like Grease, and therefore the medley, and most know the dance moves too. Friday night we had two engagements to attend. First we had been invited to our bar by a bunch of Portuguese that were all meeting there. We were also invited to Dee's host-sister's apartment for a birthday dinner. We weren't sure who would be there, but I don't think we were expecting nine other people there. Most of the time we were confused and lost. But we did manage some conversation and laughs. Around 11pm we headed for the bar. Definitely one of the most fun times I've had while out here. A little before 3am we went back to the girl's apartment, even though we had said we would be back by 1. People were just leaving, so we said our bonsoirs and three of the guys were nice enough to walk us back to our place.

Saturday morning/afternoon found Dee and I on a train to Paris. After completely circling Gare du Nord we found one of the four subways in France. It was yummy. Then we found our way to a museum near the Moulin Rouge and spent quite some time wondering around inside. After we traversed Paris following bad directions to the Catacombs. We asked four people and none of them even knew what we were talking about. Finally we texted our friend Sou and gave us the right directions. By the time we got there it had been closed for an hour. Oh well.

After this little adventure we had dinner and then met up with JP and Sou. They took us to Sou's sister's apartment, where we met about five other people. So we had snacks and drinks and the reason for this little fete was that it was Sou's birthday. At some point we went out in search of a bar. It was very late and very cold, by the time we got there I was 3/4 of the way into turning into an icicle. The way back was just as bad because we didn't really know how to get back, so we walked, then took a bus, and eventually a taxi. We stayed at her place that night. Sunday around 13h we headed back to Orleans with Sou and JP.

So that concludes ma semaine folle. It was quite the week I must say, and was a lot crazier for me than I made it sound. I do believe that I'm a little changed because of it.

Paris

12-15/10/07

Finalement! I had been waiting for my gramma and sister to come to France and Friday was the day. I had one class, texts littéraire, and there was a control continue, which I bombed. But after, I went to Dee and Kay’s second class because they were exposés. Kay was first with the history of women’s rights in the US. She did quite well, I’m proud. Then Dee talked about alimentation in the states. At the end of hers, she let everyone try some authentic American food, sent by her mom. She had fluff (which some of the other Americans hadn’t seen before), dried blueberries and cranberries (both native to North America), EZ cheese, mini Reese’s cups, and Oreos. I think everyone was a little weirded out by the EZ cheese, but quite a few students tried some.

After that we bought some pain au chocolat (and a jambon beurre for me) and hopped on the tram. Dee went home and Kay and I headed to the train station… à Paris! We got there ok, got a little lost looking for the metro, but made it to their hotel only half an hour after we said we would be there. The guy at the desk said we were the first to arrive…what? So we went up to the room and waited. I didn’t want to go out, but I didn’t really want to stay in either. So we flipped channels until we heard a knock. They were hungry so after they got all settled in we went out to eat, mais sans Kay. She went to an Ani Difranco concert, which was quite amazing I hear. When she got back we walked around for a little while with my sister, who is now probably addicted to french pastries. She was pretty freakin’ excited about the McDonald’s near the hotel.

Saturday we took the open bus tour around the city. We saw all the famous shit: Eiffel Tower, Arche de Triomphe, Champs Elysée, and la Place de la Concorde. We also visited Napoleon’s tomb, Notre Dame, and the Rodin museum.

Paris was full of Anglophones, thanks to the rugby matches: France vs. England and South Africa vs. Argentina. Unfortunately France lost. On the Eiffel Tower there was a huge TV screen, and I’m guessing they showed the match there. They were actually in Paris (hence all the other people). In the middle of the Eiffel Tower there was also a huge rugby ball. I’m sure it was absolutely crazy there, even though France wasn’t playing that well.

Sunday we did the Louvre. All day. I think I skipped two wings on two floors. In case you don’t know, the Louvre is fucking big, and it has four floors each with three wings. So that’s twelve wings, and Kay and I saw eight. Not bad…very tiring. I didn’t find the one painting I was hoping to, but they had a poster of it in the shop, so I bought that for myself instead.

The four of us arrived in Orléans around 8pm. My sister had brought the movie Anchorman, so Kay and I took that back to watch with Dee who missed us terribly despite her own amazing weekend. After story time JP showed up and we watched the movie together with peanut butter M&M’s. Yummy yummy in my tummy.

Another Drinking Story

I swear to you all I’m not an alcoholic. I realized when going over the week that I seem to always mention drinking. Here’s why: during the week nothing really noteworthy happens. I go to class, I do homework, cook, hang out with Dee and Kay and JP…sometimes watch a movie… that’s about it. We only drink on the weekends, and it’s usually only one night. So it may seem like all I’m doing is drinking but I’m really not. But here’s my story of the week.

Friday (5 octobre) was Foreign Friday again. This time we decided to get Indian food…to go. So we ordered our food then went to our favorite bar (Le Petit Barcelone) to have a drink while we waited. While we were ordering and waiting for the drinks, a man at the bar was staring intently at us. Kay and I sat down with our drinks, and the guy started talking to Dee. When she sat down she said that he had asked her if we all spoke English because he recognized our accents, and said that he was Scottish. How quaint. A few minutes later we saw our friend Fatima walk by, so we invented her to sit with us. She went up to order a drink and hugged this guy and started talking to him! Strange coincidence. So she sits and he stands and we learn the story (not unboring enough to put here). We reminded Fatima that we were supposed to a little soirée that night, and made her promise to come. She did. So we left, got our food, and went back to Dee’s to enjoy it and feel completely stuffed. Then we got everything cleaned out and decided to whip out our deck of cards to start a party with just ourselves. Fatima came soon over, and then no one. We were thinking it was gonna be a sorry excuse for a party, but then JP showed up…another card game. Then a girl from DAF came with her boyfriend, and then the guy from the bar…then another girl and her boyfriend…then one of our neighbors. So it was fun. At some point three other Anglophone girls and another frenchie showed up, but I didn’t really pay them much attention and they didn’t stay long, or play any games. I’ve gotta say, Kings with six people is more fun. All in all, it was a great night, and I have some funny photos. The next day I realized that I’m not very photogenic when drunk because I laugh and my eyes close. Oops. So that’s my party story.

Monday night we (along with every other foreign student in the university) were invited to a tour of the city, followed by a… thing with the mayor… and a little concert. We didn’t go on the tour, but we did go to the next thing. We believed that since it was with the mayor and we were getting ‘honorary wine’ that it would be a little classy… so we dressed up. We got there and it turned out that we were three of about ten students that dressed up. Oh well. Better off over-dressed. The mayor gave a little speech, he seems nice and he’s rather young. Then the president of our university gave a little speech. Then they let us loose on the wine… and space to ‘mingle’. It wasn’t so bad. We each two or three glasses of wine out of it. The concert was ‘Bach to Zappa’, and the group had five musicians: 1) French horn, 2) bassoon, 3) oboe and bass oboe, 4) flute and wood flute, and 5) bass, soprano, and Bb clarinet. Guess which one I liked the best. It wasn’t actually wasn’t that bad. I got some pics and two video clips (both up on facebook and photobucket). There was also a strange guy sitting next to us, which made it that much more interesting.