| Oy Vay.... It's been far too long since I've been able to update...
First, the tragic news... at 4:30, Friday afternoon, the titanium powerbook formerly known as "my computer," suffered a sudden, and terrible death. Two wires to the LCD screen somehow got meshed together while being used by my sister, and short circuted, making the screen go irreversibly black. Sooo... this means i'll have far less access to the internet... argh. As if it wasn't hard enough for me to be in contact with people.. anyways.. on with the update.
Tuesday night... La Bal du Quatorze Juillet au Caserne du Pompiers! It was the night before la fete nationale (the french independence day) and France has this AMAZINGLY BRILLIANT tradition of having dances at every firestation. So, you get to go dance with firefighters. It was soooooooooooo packed. We waited like a half hour to get in and then could barely move there were so many people. But the set up was totally awesome- lights everywhere and djs, and a group of firefighters were dancing on this raised ramp or something. Then, to our amazement, they took off their shirts while dancing ( I don't know what it is about France and stripping men, or maybe I just have a knack of ending up in these places). But after a while we realized that there weren't enough Pompiers to still be taking off their shirts, and that they were taking them off and then putting them on and taking them off again. It was funny.
Katy wore a really awesome white hat to the dance, which totally made her outfit rock. Only problem was, random guys kept teasing her by grabbing her hat off her head and putting it on their own. This was funny the first time, maybe... maybe. But it was definitely annoying after a while for katy. Anyway, long story short, we had a good time even though we could barely breath in the mass of people.
THEN FETE NATIONALE!!
We woke up really early to head off to the Champs-Elysees to watch the parade. This is ANOTHER brilliant idea by the french. All of their military get together with all their military vehicles and equipment and stuff, and march down the Champs-Elysees. It is such a fabulous recognition of the nation's military, and Im sorry to say I learned more about my own military from this parade than from anything in America. I got to see all sorts of tanks, pseudo-tanks, missiles, trucks, aircraft, construction equipment.. EVERYTHING was in this parade. I think i liked the jets the best, though. In the beginning and end a group of jets led the way for the others by flying in a V and leaving trails of red, white, and blue. Every year the parade has a guest that they are honoring, too (such a good idea!) and this year it was a celebration of Britain-France relations, so the last group of Jets were british ones. I really wish I knew so much more about aircraft, so I could have identified all of the planes, but I can't. It was quite an experience, and I think definitely worth standing and waiting two hours on the side of the street. They also gave us programs and mini French flags!! 
So then my sister was exhausted, so we went back and dropped her off at home while Xena and I made our way to the NYU picnic (free food is always good!) where I saw another acquaintance of mine from NYU, Kriztian (i think that's how it's spelled), who is dating a girl in the NYU in Paris program- small world.
Then we picked up my sis, bought some food supplies, and made our way to the Eiffel Tower for the fireworks show that night. NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE THIS AMAZING SHOW... omg i was just so awed. We sat on the Champs de Mars (the grass field in front of the tower) and when the show started we were surrounded by fireworks on three sides. It was a full half hour show of fireworks, and colored lights. Definitely the best fireworks show i've EVER been to.
Unfortunatley we had to walk home afterwards, though, because the metro station near us was closed. My sister didn't mind (it's about an hour walk), and when we arrived at the Hostel Xena and I made some sarcastic comment about being up for going to Sacre Coeur in Montmartre (the highest point in Paris), and my sister, devoid of all sarcasm, was totally raring to go. Ah mi...
The next day I got back my midterm.. My teacher told us that he had not put grades on any of them becuase if he had it would have dragged all of our grades down horribly... fabulous. So he said we were going to have a composition the next day. Why we should do better on a composition, i don't know.. I went to the Musee Rodin that afternoon for class, and absolutely LOVED it.. As much as they can, they keep the statues outside in a beautiful garden, so it feels less like a museum, and more like a beautiful classical park. But, there's a lot that have to be kept indoors, so they keep it in a Rococco style house.
That afternoon my sis and I met with Loic at the Louvre and just talked for a bit. On the way out, though, there was a guy trying to usher us to take a picture with two random guys, and he grabbed my sis and pulled her over, and she didn't realize what was going on at first, and so that was a little interesting. A nice introduction to certain parisien methods of interacting with tourists. That night my sis and I met up with Arie to get dinner, only he was coming out of a ballet, so we had to wait a while, and then me and my sis were late, so by the time we got to the restaurant we wanted to go to it was closed. We found our way to a nice little place a couple blocks away with the most INCREDIBLE food for the price. I was very happy, only... we missed the metro. It closes at 1 am, and we almost started walking (thank God i didn't let Arie lead us, cause he wanted to take us down a street going the absolute wrong direction) but then decided to just take a taxi, cause i was nervous about getting up early and doing my composition the next day.
So the composition went well, but i forgot that i had a dictee.. and that i did not so well in, but u can only do what u can. My cousin Margaret was arriving that day, and i was sooo excited to see her. My sister and I just hung out until then and then we tried to find this NOTORIOUSLY good restaurant, only to find out it was closing for like a month. SO annoying. They had one possible opening for the next day, which i was annoyed at cause I was leaving for Avignon (in the south of France) and wouldn't be there, but im rather selfishly happy to say that that didn't go through either.
So Saturday, Sunday, and Monday I went to Avignon, and since I have to leave for class now, I will have to write about that next time. It's just been TOOO long.
Till then |
