The last hurrah

I finished up classes this week, so all that's left to do is one paper and taking the exams!  Woooo!

This week we had a string of low-key celebrations of the end of the program, which is why I haven't been around much.  Also I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get my visa stuff straight for staying here the next year but nothing is going as planned.  :(  It's very stressful.

We FINALLY went to this place I've been nagging people about all summer: Le Caveau des Oubliettes. 

http://www.caveaudesoubliettes.fr/

Last time I was here I passed this bar/club every day on my way to classes and mostly I noticed a sign in the window saying "La Guillotine."  So obviously I really wanted to go.  For whatever reason (probably because the people in my program last time were lame) I never went but this time around I looked up more info to convince people. 

It turns out this place 1) has an actual, formerly in use guillotine 2) incorporates the many caves/vaults below many of the old buildings in the central part of Paris and was supposedly an oubliette for a time (a kind of dungeon) 3) is one of the premier places in the city for live modern jazz.  Could there be any more perfect place for me?  I'm not sure - live music, a guillotine, and an interesting history in Paris is pretty ideal.

It was completely awesome except for one huge, glaring, flaw: the guillotine was lent out for a movie shoot!  Grrrrrr!  But it was a really fun time; I'm hoping to go back sometime this week if I can.

Last night we went to a concert of two indie rock groups in the 11th arrondissement, Paris' equivalent of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  The bar/club in fact looked like someone replicated it piece by piece from any of the bigger hipster hang out spots.  But the bands were good and that was also a lot of fun.  Then we went to karaoke which of course is always awesome...except this was the weirdest karaoke.  Clearly the crowd there was mostly regulars who had "their" songs, and the performances consisted mostly of System of a Down, Black Sabbath, and other such classic yelly type bands.  We were perhaps a little out of place but everyone loved us when we started doing the Beastie Boys (Fight for Your Right and No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn).

Sartorially, it was probably the most amusing place I've been to in Paris, primarily because of two guys who I think were just completely nuts: one wore a grey button down shirt with combat boots and a lovely kilt, and the other wore tight hipster jeans with...get ready for it...Enjolras' revolutionary vest from Les Miserables.  I swear - it was the exact same thing.  It looked like a jumped an Enjolras after a show and mugged him for his awesome vest.

I'm not entirely convinced Enjolras would have been a Black Sabboth fan but it's okay.

And tonight one of the guys in the program organized a trivia game for us that was a ton of fun - but I love trivia games in most forms.  My team won.  Obviously.  Little did he know how good I am at identifying string arrangements of pop songs or my vast knowledge of Shakespeare plays (I got five points alone for naming all the Shakespeare titles that refer to the main characters indirectly - not by a proper name, ie, the Merchant of Venice).

Weirdly, one of the girls brought a friend who was staying with her for a few days.  This friend was from Northport, two years behind me in school, and totally knew who I was even though I didn't recognize her at all and it must be at least six years since she's seen me.  Apparently she was in the Symphonic Wind ensemble where I played the harp in high school sometimes.  Even in Paris I'm recognized as "that girl who plays the harp."

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Aurelien, yay!  And that's the end of my social life in Paris this time around, probably, as we'll have to finish up the paper and study for the exams.