music.

Oh how I love music! I forgot to mention that one thing that made my LIFE the other day was when my friend Wilson and I discovered how many great bands are going to be playing here in the coming months. Here's a list of the bands I might be spending too many Euros to go see:

02/10/08- Bon Iver
28/10/28- MOGWAI
03/11/08- Built To Spill + Okkervil River
07/11/08- Nada Surf
12/11/08- MGMT
14/11/08- The Dodos
15/11/08- Sigur Ros
16/11/08- Hot Chip
17/11/08- CSS
23/11/08- Death Cab
24/11/08- Ratatat
29/11/08- Cold War Kids
10/12/08- The Notwist

(The French put the day first before the month. It's definitely something I have to get use to!)

Another observation I've made in last the week here is that the French don't know how to choose background music for their TV shows/commercials/segments (thank you Fuel).My grandpa watches (falls asleep while watching) TV all day long and all I hear in the background is 90's/early 2000's top 40 hits playing behind a segment about the Olympics or whatever news they're reporting at the time. I'm sorry but listening to old school Jack Johnson while watching a track race, or a commercial about the Monoprix (a wanna-be French Target) does not work. It's tres bizarre!

We had our first sun-filled day here in Paris yesterday! It was gorgeous out!


Today, on the other hand, not so sunny. In fact, it was cloudy and rainy all day long. I've been inside all day slowly going down my life to-do list. At least it's Sunday when everything is closed anyways. I slept through the Olympic Closing Ceremonies though. I'm bummed!
...
Well anyways, back to yesterday. Met up with the girls at the dorms. Today we were joined by Cayenne and Cassandra, both of whom are great and definitely some of my favorite in the program. We took the metro over to this area called "Le Marais". It was definitely the Silverlake equivalent in Paris. It was a combination of Silverlake hipsters and Melrose shops. I think it's my favorite place in Paris so far, aside from the area that I live in. We spent the day strolling through the streets and checking out a few vintage shops. We stopped for a quick breather and sat down at a cafe (of course).:

Julie and Cayenne

Cassandra

Megan and Allie


I've been really good about not spending money on clothes so far! Although, I'm sure that will change as the weeks continue. It's hard not to want clothes when you're in a city known for it's fashion.

Last night, we had planned to go on a pub crawl. The girls ended up going, but I decided that I wasn't ready to pay 12 Euro to go out and not really drink. I ended up hanging out with some other kids in the program. We went to this bar called La Fleche D'or. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was free to get in and had live music! It's an old train station that's been renovated to look like a Troubadour in LA almost! It reminded me of home. The music....not so good... but I never really complain when I'm around live music. After the last band played, a couple of DJs deejayed some music. It got oh-so-hot inside, so we left! Got back to the dorms. I ended up staying there that night because I didn't make the last train home. Woke up this morning and took the walk of shame... or well bus-ride of shame, back to my place. Here's a picture of the group at the bar:


I talked to my aunt in Berlin today. I'm planning on going to visit her in October. I'm so excited. As some of you might know, I have a lot of family here in Europe. One of the reasons why I chose to come to Paris was because I could visit all my family here. I'm so excited to see everyone and can't wait! Fuel's going to be in Hossegor this week filming a surf contest. I really want to go and visit but after looking at the ticket prices today, I don't think thats going to happen. :(.

I think Sundays are going to be very nice days to sit and blog. Everything is closed. Everyone's doing homework. Its a good day to just chill out and hang out with the grandparents. I need to figure out when a good time to run is. Having class everyday, all day long, is not going to make the running schedule easy. Make it work!

Thats all for now.

Oh! I have a number here in Paris now. Its 06.45.36. 37.17. The country code is 033. Get Skype, call me, or text me! I would love to hear your voices.

Until next Sunday, or maybe earlier...

Bisous!