Advice time!

No seriously, I'm expecting thoughts here because taking a job in another country for a while is tough.  (For people who have opinions and don't want to comment, email me.)

I have received three au pair offers I'm considering pretty seriously.  I know which is the most practical job to take and I know which one I most want to take (they are not the same).  There are a lot of factors to consider so this is going to be a long post.

Family 1: Parents, 14 year old girl, two boys who are 10/11/12 or somewhere around there, 3 year old girl, 1 year old boy.  They live in a fairly residential but central area of Paris, easily accessible by Metro.  Duties would consist mostly of getting the youngest ready in the mornings, taking him to daycare, bringing him home at lunchtime, feeding him, getting one of the kids from school and dropping them at an extracurricular activity.  Occasional babysitting and tutoring the older kids in English/piano/helping them learn to cook (I would get paid extra for those last things and feeding the baby).  They're giving me a small apartment about 4 stops away via Metro, maybe a 20 minute commute door to door, and I would eat dinner with them maybe twice a week or so.  No cleaning/housework duties; unsure if they'd be paying for my Metro pass.  It pays about 30 euro a week, plus some pocket money and an extra 500 if I feed the baby lunch.  And of course Paris gives a lot of opportunities for me to do part time tutoring on the side to make some extra money.

I met them today and as you'd expect it's sort of chaotic with them all around, but most of the time I'm with them I'd be dealing with at most two at once.  The little girl was a kind of a monster but her mother said she's not usually like that.  That could very well be a lie I suppose but she is three so it's somewhat to be expected.  The baby was basically the best baby ever - he was very sweet and compliant and has already taken a great liking to me (the mother was astonished as apparently he's usually very shy and clingy).  The older ones seem like good kids - the girl is very friendly and one of the boys is very smart, he goes to an exclusive private school.  I would speak English with the kids to help them improve, and French with the mother, to help me improve. 

Family 2: Parents, 13 year old and 12 year old (don't know if boys/girls) and 7 year old boy.  They live near Dax, which is a very small city in the south of France, in the Basque region - it's very historic and interesting and I really loved the Basque last time I went.  It's within easy distance of Bayonne, Biarritz, Pau, St Jean de Luz, and the Spanish Pyrenees.  I would have a similar schedule of taking the youngest to school in the morning, picking him up and hanging around until about 7:30pm.  This one requires some more housework type things, like doing the children's laundry, tidying their rooms, and making dinner for them.  They seem to be into sports, going to the beach, and things like that.  They didn't specify if they want me to speak English to them.  I would be required to drive pretty much every day and since cars here are mostly manual I imagine I'd have to learn that, which is sort of scary.  I assume they'd pay for gas and let me use a car of theirs but it hasn't been explicit.  I would have a room with a bathroom in their house, which was described as a "maison landais" I would get 90 euro a week.

A "maison landais"

A Google image search from the town, St Paul les Dax, doesn't give anything salient.

Family 3:  Parents, elderly grandma, little girl (age not specified, I would guess between 5 and 8).  They live in the Haute-Savoie, a very rural and mountain-y area that is right on the Swiss border - it's right next to a lake and across the lake is Switzerland.  The closes major city is Geneva (about 15 miles), but it's easy driving distance of Turino, Grenoble, and Lyon as well.  The big thing: the parents run a farm with a million cows and some horses.  This is truly rural and not at all something I have experience with, but very interesting to me.  The mother speaks English very well but didn't specify whether they wanted me to help the girl with English/speak it to her.  Again the schedule would mostly be getting the girl ready for school, taking her to the bus, and getting her after school.  The ad lists a need for "light" housework (probably similar, the child's laundry and tidying her room) and help cooking for her (in this case it seems more like preparing breakfast and maybe something right after school).  I would have a private room and bathroom in their large house.  The weekly pay isn't specified.

Thonon les Bains: (they don't live in the town but are close to it)

Okay.

Perhaps you can see the rub: the Paris situation is definitely the most practical - I know the city, no driving involved, my own apartment, more opportunities to make money on the side, closer to my friends in France - but I would really like to do the one in Haute-Savoie.  It's a part of France I've never visited and a lifestyle that's entirely new to me - if I'm going to be doing something like this I think it would be awesome to do something completely new.  Also the little girl seems super sweet.  At the same time, it seems likely I'd go nuts in a very rural area for a year and it's not accessible by train.  Also I don't ski, which seems to be the primary amusement.  But then there are other factors: 5 kids and a hectic life in Paris vs one kid and a more leisurely life in Haute-Savoie.  Then consider the Dax position, which is somewhat between the two, 3 kids and some activities in a small town, in a region I know I would find interesting. 

Then...

There's always the option to wait to hear back from teaching/office jobs.

HELP ME.

On another note

I am not normally the type to blog just for the sake of blogging.  Mostly I am skeptical that people are that interested in my daily life to read about it when I'm halfway around the world.  There are a lot of times when I open up this page with something I want to write about and then feel like I'm talking into empty space and don't end up doing it.  Are you people out there?  I would love to hear from you, so I can keep things interesting.  What do you like to hear about from here?  Do I need more pictures to hold interest?  Should I become one of those people who takes photos of all the food they eat?  Comments or emails are welcome.

The job search

began today and is looking okay so far.  For anyone who doesn't know, I'm going to be looking for a job in France for the next year - I'm not necessarily looking for something that fits into the French/history/academia thing I've been doing but I would do a lot of different things.  The positions that seem to be in the highest demand for someone like me (ie, no real tech/engineering/science skills but fluent in French and English) are: bilingual administrative/secretary work and au pairs/nannies.  I have enough experience with administrative stuff that I could probably find a position doing that - most likely in an English speaking company that works with French clients - but for many wealthy families in Paris it seems the only au pair qualification they want is English speaking, female, and independent. 

Most who know me probably see the big difficulty already: I'm not the biggest fan of children.  I'm pretty picky about what kids I like because so many annoy the crap out of me.  Handily enough, though, there are a lot of agencies online where I can put up a profile and meet the families before committing.  Also, I can handle just about anything for a year, and the responsibilities generally look like this: take the kids to school/creche, pick them up in the afternoons; make them a snack, sometimes dinner; help with homework and any hobbies (many mention music, yay!), speak English to them; bedtime routines; babysit one or two nights a week; sometimes do light housework or grocery shopping.  They give free housing and meals, pay a small weekly salary and give weekly pocket money.  I can handle that.  I'd be mostly free during the days and weekends as well, and several mention wanting to take au pairs on vacation with them which would be cool.

I just started today and I've already had two positive responses.  One of the agents actually contacted me about working in the first family - from the French Indies, living in the Paris suburbs, they have a 6 year old girl and a 2 year old boy - and has been very active.  I'll likely have a meeting with the mother sometime this week and then if things go well, with the kids later.  The second family lives in central Paris with a 2 year old and a 7 month old.  I don't know if I'd want to take care of a child that young but I'd rather be in central Paris.

I also applied to two administrative jobs today (one at Intel France) and sent a message to a large auction house asking if they had any advice on getting a job there or knew of any openings (thank you, Lynn, for suggesting that!).  One said the review, though, would take up to four weeks so that one probably won't happen.

In all, it's looking fairly promising.  The one snag in the plan could be getting a visa - it's hard to find full time work if you don't have a visa; it's hard to get a visa without full time work.  It's also much quicker and easier to do it from the US, apparently (although it took me nearly a month last time). 

I haven't done too much else this weekend aside from school work and job searching, although yesterday I did get deux petits cadeaux pour ma plus petite niece!  We had a nice little IFS dinner party the night before as well.

Bits and Pieces

I made my second market foray today and it was lovely - there aren't as many people around as on the weekends so I could take my time a bit more.  I got some gorgeous looking lettuce, a pepper, bananas,* and nectarines all very cheap!  Produce shopping is kind of opposite here: farmer's/outdoor markets are generally much cheaper than grocery stores if you are buying fresh produce.  Most products in these markets are not quite organic but grown in a biologically sound manner ("bio" as they say here) and you can tell.  My nectarines and bananas have some natural markings and and discolorations, and the strawberries are much smaller than what you find in the US. 

However, things like cheese and meat are a bit more expensive than in grocery stores - though they are far higher quality and the shops generally have an excellent selection.  I wanted to get some Roquefort so I went to the main cheese shop in the market and the lady was super sweet and friendly.  She gave me a sample of a cheese I'd never tried before (I believe called creme de brindis but don't hold me to that last word) - it's a semi-hard but smooth tasting cow cheese.  I got a piece, plus the Roquefort, and she gave me another one (I didn't catch what it was :( ) for free!

I also got one of those delicious Lebanese "pizzas" for lunch while I was there.  They are SO VERY much not pizzas.  It's a sauteed vegetable (I got spinach - it also has onions and a bit of tomato) mix which seems to be cooked in white wine, mixed with some tangy crumbly cheese, stuffed in a thick pita bread and toasted.  Very yummy!  Not a pizza.

In other food news, it was my friend's birthday yesterday and we went out to a North African restaurant to celebrate.  We all had completely delicious tagines or couscous with fantastic mint tea.  Mmmm, I love the great North African food here.

I haven't done much of anything exciting in the last few days since I've been at the NYU campus most of the time.  I did take a little shortcut through the Jardin des Plantes in my wanderings, though.  I guess the Jardin des Plantes is more or less like Paris' Central Park, although it's not central.  It's not as planned, manicured, and full of statues as most of the big Parisian gardens and it has a nice little zoo.  It's really pretty and not as touristy as places like the Luxembourg.  It was designed to be a sort of indoor/outdoor natural history museum experience: the buildings scattered through the gardens are museums of evolution, minerology, paleontology, and entomology.  There are also certain areas set aside for growing different types of plants.  These photos are only from the little corner of the gardens I went through - I mostly liked the little house that is covered in plants and that kind of mini prairie field of some sort of grass in the middle of the city.

I also haven't really discussed the area where I go to school: the 16th arrondissement, Passy, it's sort of the equivalent of the Upper West Side.  It's not quite as high end as the area around the Champs Elysees (which I would equate with the Upper East Side) but it's a fairly exclusive, old, pretty expensive area.  That's why none of us live close to the campus.  There are a ton of clothing shops and specialty bakeries and such; it's pretty hard to find a quick, cheap place to get lunch between classes.  The campus building itself is an 18th century building with a beautiful little courtyard.  All the professors seem to live in the buildings in the same complex.  We (the grad students) only use a few of the rooms but there are actually two large buildings for class and such.  The undergrads are coming Monday, so although it feels nice and open right now I'm sure it's about to get very crowded.

Here is what I see when I leave the Metro on my way to class:

*This week Oxford University revised its style guide to say the Oxford comma (the last comma in a list of things - the one after "bananas" in this sentence) is no longer necessary.  I'm having some problems dealing with this and Oxford and I are now in a fight.  I happen to like the Oxford comma.

Arènes de Lutèce

I went to visit this site a few days ago.  It wasn't actually that interesting and there no information about it at the actual place, but it was pretty.  There is a park right next to the ruins and they tried to keep the "park" feel in the area immediately surrounding the arena.

Quick summary of the place: it was a huge arena in Roman times, and one of the premier attractions of the old Roman Paris (Lutetia).  They probably put on plays and fighting matches.  A lot of the stones were taken apart after the city fell/was abandoned to the Germanic tribes and more of it was destroyed in the building of modern Paris.  There was a convent on top of it for hundreds of years but after it was closed the ruins were rediscovered, sometime in the mid 19th c.  My favorite, Victor Hugo, was one of the people who campaigned for its restoration but there has never really been that much interest in it.  Now you can see some of the seating and some wall and some of the niches.

More than one Google review of the place says it's a horrible place because of all the loud, obnoxious kids who play there.

It's evident the city doesn't care too much about these ruins because almost all the people who were there were either kids playing soccer or young men playing bocci in the middle of the arena, or people sunbathing on the outside.

The only real indicator of what this place once was is these random couple of neo-classical statues (sorry this picture was taken super zoomed-in so it didn't come out well).

So here are some shots of the ruins:

I believe these are partially reconstructed and that they're the "niches" but I might be wrong...someone better at Roman architecture would know better. 

This is when you come in the side entrances on the ground level:

A closer view of the opposite entry.  Obviously these cut outs in the stone are not original - the bleachers would have covered the area that is open now.

The walkways around the arena are really peaceful and pretty.

First day of class...too hot

We had our first classes today - in a smallish room with no air condition, at least 90 degrees outside and high humidity.  One fan.  Classroom door closed, about 20 people in the room.  Ahhhhh!

Anyway, my classes both seem interesting and I like both of the profs.  The first one is very intense and doesn't want us to do anything (including the final paper) in English, but he delights in the guillotine almost as much as I do!  We're even having a whole lecture on the history and usage of the guillotine.  A trade off, I guess.  He is assigning us a lot of work but I'm getting some of it over with tomorrow - all these history classes start off with the French Revolution so I'm always stuck with presenting during one of the first sessions.  It doesn't look like any guillotines are involved in the readings.  :(  (The class is on violence in French society, so I was rather disappointed.)

The second course is on the antillais (ugh, I'm sorry, I can't think of that word in English - is there one?  Caribbean is too general.) and Haitian diaspora.  The prof is antillais himself and I'm kind of excited to get acclimated to a new accent, although his is not strong.  I'm also hoping we'll do some work with Creole, that would be interesting!  We're mostly reading fiction works and personal essays for that class, which is a major change from history/sociology/politics/anthro works we read in other classes.

Also, hi Financial Aid people!  I'm glad to see you're here!  :)

I edited this because it seems like the linked picture was giving some trouble?  Not sure, but I took it out.

Orientation

Monday we had to go to the NYU campus to do a terribly pointless orientation.  They told us things like how to ride the Metro and the professors weren't there.  Sigh.  It was nice though, to get an idea of where everything is in the little complex.  There is a teeny library, a little student sitting/study area, and a really lovely courtyard.  They said next week 100 undergrads are coming, though, so I imagine the peacefulness will not linger.

It was super hot and humid, around 98 degrees, so by the time we were done with the orientation everyone was pretty grumpy and annoyed.  Then they told us we should go get our books and course packs before classes tomorrow so, as dutiful students, we went to the bookstore (maybe 3 blocks away) and the printing place (a 10-15 minute walk)..and the course pack wasn't done.  Awesome.  So we were all very hot and sweaty and unhappy and for nothing.  A few people came down to my area (the Latin Quarter) to get some cold drinks afterwards.  Since none of our apartments are air conditioned cafes are usually better places to hang around than at home.


Things kind of stop in Paris when people get uncomfortable - too much heat or snow will drive everyone to cafes or bars and work slows down.  They're okay with a lot of rain, though.  Protests tend to happen in the summer as well, though I'm not sure if it's the general restlessness and heat or because students have more time on their hands to stir things up.

For your viewing pleasure

The first one is a street post pride parade, and the second is me trying to record the music outside my window.  The video for that one is kind of useless, I just did it for the sound.

I found the market

But panicked and only got strawberries!  It was very overwhelming.  I'll go back on Tuesday and hopefully there won't be as many people - I felt silly because there is a rhythm to the produce areas and since I haven't been very confident in my French being up to par (I was rather lazy with it this past semester and spoke a lot of Franglais although I understand everything perfectly) I thought I would stand back and watch a bit.

I'm going to go somewhere today but I can't decide where.  Trying to think of a place that will be relatively non-crowded and tourist-free on a Sunday is really difficult in Paris.  I'm not sure I want to do any churches today as you never know when services will be on weekends.  I might end up going to the Paris mosque, which is pretty close to me, or the Arènes de Lutèce (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arènes_de_Lutèce) just a couple of blocks away.  The Museum of the Middle Ages?  Maybe.

To my friends

As many may know, it was gay pride day in a few major cities, including NYC and Paris.  And NY state passed laws okaying gay marriage, woo! So of course that all means the pride parade here in Paris was insane, as were the post-parade festivities.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the parade today, just the after parties.  I met up with a bunch of NYU people to celebrate: we had dinner and roamed around the Marais, where most of the the gay clubs and bars are in Paris.

It was COMPLETELY NUTS.  I can't even describe how packed the streets were.  I have a few pictures to give a general idea:

These are streets where normally cars have no trouble.  At one point a small car tried to get by and people mobbed it, pushing it from side to side and pouring beer over it.  (They didn't actually mean to turn it over, they were being typically Parisian, and the guys inside couldn't stop laughing).  We even ran into one of the visiting NYU professors!  It was like being in a very packed club, except it was a whole street!  It was a ton of fun - the people were super friendly, the police let people take beer out onto the streets, people were singing, dancing, playing drums.  My closest friend in the program and I went out afterwards to a few bars and the atmosphere was just great; it was the biggest, most lively celebration I've ever been to. 

I took a video but it doesn't really do justice - and Blogger doesn't seem to want to upload it.  I was trying to get the drum circle but you mostly hear the music blasting from the bars, anyway. 

Then of course came the bane of my Parisian existence: the Metro closes around 2am.  We left around that time and so had to walk home.  Google tells me it was a bit over 3 km.  Now, I know parents, grandparents, etc, are going to be scandalized that I walked home from the Marais at 2am but let me tell you, I am a pro, and I would NEVER do that in NYC.  I used my patented NYC walk (super fast, no eye contact, angry look on the face) and I only had one guy exclaiming after me, excusez-moi, excusez-moi!  It's a "no one will mess with me" walk, and I am good at it.  I got home safe and sound; the biggest challenge was unlocking my apartment door (many will testify that opening doors is one of my major problems in life).  My feet are sore, I'm sweaty and gross, but it was completely worth it!  I had a great time.

On the walk home I attempted to capture a few landmarks in their magical nighttime splendor.  Anyone who has walked Paris and night can tell you there is something special about places like Notre Dame and the Seine bridges when everything else is dark.  The pictures don't give you a very good idea.  Here is the Tour de Saint Jacques, described by one of my friends as "a Lord of the Rings-looking thing"

From the Notre Dame bridge looking east:

And, of course, Notre Dame at night:

I don't know if you can tell, but there was a light on in the north tower (and fire-eaters still performing in the square).  I liked to imagine it was Quasimodo, getting the bells ready for Sunday mass.

And now it's almost 3:30am so I'll get to bed.  To the market in the morning!

Je suis flâneuse

I learned a great word in class last year: flâneur.  Wikipedia tells me the literal meanings of the word are "stroller,"""lounger," "saunterer," "loafer," but I learned it in the sense Baudelaire used it, someone who strolls through city streets to better understand and experience it.  A flâneur is a resident of the city but at the same time is a detached observer - he has a relationship with the city itself, and its culture, rather than individuals. In Canadian French it apparently has connotations of loitering, but we'll forget about that.

As someone who has traveled a lot around foreign cities, I understand that the best way to get to know a place is just to stroll around the streets.  I love that there is a word for this in French and I determined to be a grande flâneuse on this trip to Paris.

However, my first order of business today was to find some groceries.  I woke up and was pretty hungry - I finished all my snacks last night and subsisted on tea from then on - but I knew there are weekend markets in the immediate area so I was counting on getting some fresh produce and such in the morning.  I got up bright and early (meaning about 9), checked the days and times of the markets and set off to the closest one.  Unfortunately I must have mixed them all up because when I got to the square it was empty.  Oh well, there are two others within walking distance and I have to get to know the neighborhood better, anyway.  I've heard great things about the organic market on the Blvd Raspail so even though it's a longer walk - the way I went it's about 3 km - I thought I had read it was open today so I decided to go.  I tried to look it up on my phone just to make sure but couldn't find anything.  Again, oh well.

My walk took me past the Pantheon

[something like "To the great men recognized by the country/homeland"]

Which is next to the most well known and prestigious high school in France, Lycée Henri IV, founded around 1800 I would guess.

And the church St Etienne-du-Mont, which was started in the 13th century and an incredible mix of architectural eras.  The name is misleading as its most important shrine is actually that of Ste. Geneviève, the patroness of Paris.

More on that church at a later time - the interior deserves its own post.

And finally, the Pantheon is across the street from the Sorbonne's law school (much cooler than most American law schools, no?)

All that in one square!

Then onwards to the Luxembourg gardens.  Here are just a few of the lovely scenes from the gardens:

Finally I hit the Blvd Raspail and..there is no market.  Very hungry by this point, I go to the Metro to get home.  On the way back I stop at a supermarket to pick up some essentials and something I can eat soon.  I was counting on finding a bakery between there and home but no luck so I am still baguette-less.  :(  However I do have some food here so that's a start, I guess.

When I got home I looked at where I had cleverly noted the days of the markets on my computer rather than my phone and discovered I had everything backwards - Raspail and the closest one are on Sundays and the third is Saturdays, not the other way around.

In other news, the gay pride parade is today and my friends and I are planning to go.  I still have to shower and do some other things, though, so I don't know if I'll end up getting to the parade itself, probably only the festivities after.  I think my primary mission today is to find a boulangerie (bakery).

Edit: I belatedly realized I should give some sort of background on the Pantheon.  As you might suspect, it's nothing like the Roman monument of the same name, which was originally a temple to all the gods and was filled with statues of the major ones.  It's the same idea though - the main part of the Parisian one is essentially the same design.  It was built pre-French Revolution as a church but post-Revolution it was turned into a sort of burial place of the most illustrious men of France (at the time only men were thought great enough to be there, but Marie Curie remains the only woman who has the honor).  It's full of intellectuals and writers rather than people like politicians - those who have truly contributed to the prestige of French culture.  Rousseau, Voltaire, Hugo, Zola, Leon Gambetta, André Malraux, and [symbolically] Aimé Césaire are amongst those buried in the Pantheon.

I'm here!

After a long trip (but not nearly as long as last time) I am finally back in Paris!  I'm pretty tired so excuse any rambling in this post.

So first, my street is adorable, as is my apartment and the girl from whom I'm subletting.  I'm living on one of those old, narrow, cobblestone streets with very little car traffic.  Here's the street from my window:

The building seems old but not too old (many apartment buildings like this in Paris are from the 18th century) - narrow hallways, a very tiny elevator with old fashioned doors, old and somewhat worn floors.  My apartment, however, is actually bigger than the apartment I had in Brooklyn and is very cheery.  Almost too cheery for me, maybe.  I kind of suspect the girl, or whoever had this apartment before her, is an art student.  The walls and ceiling are all painted with brightly colored murals; at least they're kind of pretty.

I really love the windows, they're probably my favorite part of the apartment.  They're old rickety but let in lots of light and have pretty, flowy curtains.

The girl left me with lots of interesting utensils and assorted cooking implements (a juicer, a soup pot yay!, mismatched mugs, and strangely, two unopened bottles of champagne) but no trash can.

Anyway, the biggest surprise was this lovely view from my window:

I knew this place was very close to the Pantheon but I forgot it's at the top of a hill.  I love this area!  On the cab ride coming here we drove through my old neighborhood and I got a little nostalgic, but I realized I'm living a lot closer to it than I thought.  In fact, we went right by Aurelien's apartment (I have no idea whether he still lives there or not)!  It was like fate, obviously.

It's a little chilly here in Paris and I'm very tired so I think I'll probably take a nap rather than go out and wander as I had planned.  The downside to this is I'm left with only the food I picked up at the airport: some crackers, a mini bag of pretzels, and a few Reece's cups.  Sigh.

PS I had to go back and edit this because I'm SURE someone is going to comment that my picture makes it look like the Pantheon is sinking on one side.  Alas, if one is to read this blog one must deal with crooked pictures.

Testing...

Hello again everyone!  This is a test post to get my feet back into the blogging waters.  I'm still busy packing and getting ready to depart so there's not much to say right now.

Welcome back to Paris and to my (not very) exciting blog!  I'll only be staying about two months this time around and I don't plan on going anywhere particularly exotic so I doubt it will be as thrilling as last time.  There will be an academic trip up north, a short trip to Marseille, and possibly another quick trip along the way - Amsterdam or Switzerland seem most likely. 

An update will be coming in a couple of days while I settle into my new apartment.  Au revoir until then!

back in ny

Mes chers amis - je suis retournee!! After a small mishap on the way to Charles de Gaulle and a short layover at Heathrow (which, fortunately, did not eat my luggage this time around), I am now snug in my bed in Nopo. I haven't seen it in the daylight yet, but it doesn't seem to have changed much. It is strange to be home. I already had a craving for a baguette and Nutella...I have a feeling this summer (semester, year...) will be rather dull after my European adventuring and French lifestyle. Ah, well, for the moment I am jetlagged and would like to sleep before I become more so. I hope you all are doing well and I will probably see some of you soon! Bisous!

second to last day

So I thought I would walk around Paris today after taking care of some pre-packing things. I took care of all my recycling (papers, water bottles, wine bottles, Nutella pots...) that had been building up all semester - it was a LOT. I did some laundry and started organizing my clothes. After that, I planned to do a last shopping trip and walk around some of my most-frequented places, like the St Germain area and the Marais, maybe get some falafel, a crepe or some ice cream, and finish up in the Luxembourg garden.

Well, it's almost 4pm and I've just finished all my chores, I still have to drop off my library books at AUP, and my shopping areas will now be full of people :( I guess I'll go tomorrow and deal with the tourists/other people swarming around. I think I'll still take care of the AUP books, but I don't think I'll have time to do much else. I have to go look for Renee's camera (again) and then I have plans to go out with Aurelien tonight.

A bunch of my friends have left the last couple of days, and it's been a little sad. Two of my closest friends here and I went out a couple of nights ago for the last time: we went up to Montmartre to walk around and go to this famed little fondue place, then we sat under the Eiffel Tower together until it turned off. The restaurant is really fun and interesting (and delicious, of course) because it's this little building with just 2 communal tables where everyone sits and shares fondue dishes. As soon as you go in they give you an apertif and small dish of tapas-style appetizers (free) then when you get the fondue they give you wine in a baby bottle.

We hung around talking to other people in the restaurant for a while and didn't wind up leaving Montmartre until about 11:45pm, but decided to go to the Eiffel Tower anyway. They light the Tower up at night - it has a bunch of lights and a search-beam type thing, and then on every hour it sparkles for 10 minutes. So we walked around the gardens and sat under it until it turned off, got some gelato and went home (my only cab ride of the semester!). It was fun, but sad because I won't see them anymore.

Tomorrow during the day I'll probably walk around and pick up some stuff I'd like to bring home, but at night I guess I'll have to pack. My flight is at 5:15pm on Sunday, so I won't have a ton of time to finish things that day. And for those of you who will be lost without my little blog here, I will continue for a bit after I get back; I have to finish talking about Italy, and don't think I've forgotten about the Eastern Europe trip! And maybe I'll also discuss a little bit about going back, I'm not sure.