Ketchup

Currently I am doing laundry with Sari and Julie. There is a 24 hour laundry mat right across the street from us. I decided to join some wireless network and even though I have a signal, I can’t go online… boo. Anyway, sitting right behind me is some cute guy reading a book. He’s cute, but I can’t play my music since he’s reading—I’d feel bad being a disturbance, because I know how much people love their reading.

Tonight we found the closet thing to the UDCC that there is in France. (Oh and side note: at this moment some weird guy is looking in through the window at us..ekk!). It’s a University Café’, I’m under the impression that it is available to all university students (duh!) and it’s uber cheap…only 2.70 Euro! And ALSO, the guy girl ratio was excellent! I would estimate about 5 guys to every 1 girl. Sari, Julie and I sat at the furthest table so we could look at all of them. Sari goes to an all girl’s school, so she was excited about the males congregating in one area. Quote of the evening from Sari, “It is raining men.” On our way back we walked past Le Royal and through the window I saw my favorite monsieur (waiter)… and he saw me, sigh.

Today we had a sewing class and it was excellent. We’re making a corset. Sewing class brings back memories of TC 121. It’s always dreadful at the beginning and I never think I’ll be able to complete the project, but some how I get through and I have to admit… I do enjoy quite a large portion of the process. :D Although I did feel like a dumb ass, but on the optimistic side, I’d say it turned out alright considering I only knew what she was saying 5% of the time. Then we went on a tour at a museum Cluny. It had a bunch of art from the middle ages. I’ll be honest, our “guide”/teacher talked WAY TOO MUCH and kept repeating herself + it was cold. But the jewelry from that time period was cool.

So I’ve realized, that I’m letting a lot of little details and stories slip by without documenting them on here or anywhere else. I’m going to try my best to recap fun events that happened since last Thursday.

It all started with my salmon pannini. Julie, Sari and I stopped at the boulongerie (bakery) to get a late lunch. I thought I'd venture outside my box and try a salmon pannini... it tasted like CRAP! There were eggs and some sort of weird sauce. Oh did I mention, it was uncooked salmon...I think, otherwise it tasted like it wasn't cooked, because it was all slimy and grody. On top of being disgruntled that my highly anticipated lunch sucked, it gave me a tummy ache. So I took a nap for 3 and half hours.

When I woke up from my name, Summer and her friend Bethany were here. Summer taught Julie and I how to knit. Btw, Bethany is from Wis. and has lived in Paris for about a year being an Au Pair (Nanny). At midnight Bethany said she was going to a party and off the cuff; Summer, Julie and I decided to go with. The last metro left at 12:30. We made it half way there before the metro closed for the night. Eventually we found this club called “Wagg” with sketchy directions and no means of communication to the person that’s supposed to get us in. Anyway, we get to the door and there are to large bouncers that asked us of we were on the list. Summer—the suave one she is, gazes over the list and says (like she owns the place), “Yeah, we’re on the list… Shantell…” and the bouncers said, “Of course” and move out of the way. I’d just like to note that I’m not really sure if any of us knew Shantell from a box of rocks. :D So we danced… some how got up to the VIP room (even though it was INCREDIBLY boring up there)…danced some more…got a drink (7 Euro from a Smirnoff (sp?) smaller than from a six pack at home!).. and kept dancing. We noticed that the French are terrible dancers, so we didn’t have any problem going out and bustin’ a move, because there clear was not any standard we couldn’t hit (and we all know how good of a dancer I am). ;)

Hokay, then on Friday orientation started. Julie, Summer and I were exhausted because we didn’t get to bed until 5 in the morning and orientation started at 9 bells. We had a welcome lunch where they served us wine. Julie and I got a kick out of it. We don’t have too many people in our school. It’s pretty much a school for foreign students.
There are two people from Australia, a girl from India, on from Egypt, a BOY from Greece, and a hippy chick from Virginia. After our wine and dine we went to the Louver…it was huge. We have student passes that get us in for free for a year. So that’s cool. Saturday we went around the area looking at the street market in our area. Again—good-looking dudes, that are more “forward” than guys at home. That’s always nice for a good laugh and at times self-esteem booster. We also took a look-see at the fabric stores and a really old school area of the city. We even saw were Amelie was filmed…too bad I didn’t fall in love with the movie like the rest of the world…perhaps someday.

Now for a little story… One of these past days Julie, Sari and I were walking through the tunnel under the Arc de Triomphe (sp?) and this English woman stops me and says, “Do you speak English?” Of course I stop and say yes, thinking perhaps she needs directions (like I could give them anyway) and before I know it, this bitch had a Jamaican colored bracelet tied around my wrist. It all happened so fast and I just wanted her to get away from me (before I got pick pocketed) so I decided, I’ll count this as a 3 Euro lesson and never let myself get screwed again. So like… 45 minutes later, we’re walking to the Louver and this Middle Eastern lady comes up to me and says, “Do you speak English?” and I CLEARLY didn’t learn my lesson, because I said yes, thinking… perhaps this woman needs directions. She hands me this card, and it says something about how she has a little brother and no food and doesn’t speak French… etc (but you speak English??). So what am I supposed to do? Tell this woman to stick it? I wish, but I just couldn’t tell if it was sincere and I’d already been roped in. So I told her two Euros, gave it to her, and walked away. Turns out it was 5 Euro to learn my swindling lesson. The two days later we were somewhere doing something and I spot a whole gang of the Jamaican bracelet people. And this time it wasn’t a bubbly weird ass English chick, it was big guys who followed me and stood 6 inches from me heckling me. But like a good lassie, I kept my head down and said, “No Marci, no Marci.” Sigh. Then they just got on my nerves and I turned around and said, “NO THANK YOU!!!!1!” After that they stopped following. I win. Point me. :D

Yesterday we took a bus tour around Paris. It was 2.5 hours and I fell asleep for 5-10 minutes of it because the driving there makes me sick. I’ve gotten motion sick in everything but the metro. Oh well. We stopped to snap a few pixies by the Eiffel Tower. Later we stopped at a flea market and it was crazy. There was the antique part and then all of a sudden there was the modern market. It felt like we walked into the ghetto. I won’t elaborate, but Lynn—if you were there, you’d be eaten alive. :D And then I got some shoes.

All right, that should wrap things up for now.

Bonsior.