party.

So it's been quite some time since my last post. I broke my camera last week therefore upcoming posts may be significantly less interesting because there won't be any pictures... unless I steal from facebook that is, such the case with this post!

So lets start with the first memory that stands out since the last post. Julie, Megan, and Allie were all gone in Nice last weekend, so I got to get to know Cassandra, Cayenne, and the other girls in the program a little bit better. The Pope was here on Saturday and Cassandra and I decided we wanted to stalk him. We took the metro to Concorde, got off, and tried to get in front of the Invalides but the police had all the entrances blocked off. So we followed the crowds, walked around, and ended up behind the church and behind where everyone was. We watched the Pope on this big screen they had set up. At the end of what I think was Mass, we watched him get into what we now call the "Pope Mobile". Its a Mercedes car with this large glass encasement that he sits in! He starts to drive off and we thought that everything was over untill we realized that everyone was still waiting around. We started walking and then saw that the Pope IN THE Pope Mobile as driving towards us! We got to see him drive by in the car. It was SO awesome. I'm not even Catholic and I was WAY excited. Here's me with a flag that Cassandra got for free (oh how we love free stuff) :



Tuesday nights have become going out nights as well. Most of us don't have class untill noon the next day. The last two weeks we've gone to this bar called "The Frog and the Princess" or something like that. It a chain, and seems to attract a lot of english-speaking foreigners, so its not exactly conducive for improving my french, but its fun either way. Taleen (Flipper!) came out with us last week and so did James (JM/Jean-Marc). It was so good to have them with us. We ran into some of my cousin's other friends too!





Thursday night, we all went out to The Mix. The Mix is a club here in Paris. I went a couple of years ago with my cousins and friends when I was here for the winter. It was really fun so I'm glad I got to go again. We met up with my cousin's friends Cedric, Louis, and Christopher. I didn't get back till like 4 AM that night, which is actually kind of early, but I was SO exhausted. Oh! And I ran into Esther from high school! It was such a nice surprise!







Friday, Wilson organized a picnic under the Eiffel Tower. We met up with a couple of others from our program and hung out at the park for a while. I also met up with my friend Victor from UCLA who was visiting for two days before he went back to LA. It was so wonderful to see him. Afterward we had drinks with one of his friends. It wasn't the friend we were thinking of, but it was still nice. That night I met a couple of his other friends that he sailed with this summer. We were on the Champs Elysee for most of the day. It was nice to be with french people and attempting to practice my french.

Saturday, yesterday, Paris had their annual Techno Parade! It was such an awesome day! It was sunny and breezy. I woke up late, met up with James, and then (after quite some time) finally found Cayenne, Wilson, and Heather. The parade ran from L'Opera to the Bastille. There were SO many people out in the streets. Everyone was dancing, drinking, partying, and following these huge tour buses to the Bastille. We made a little detour to do some illegal things that Blaise would be pleased with (and NO I did not participate, but I did assist!). Went home for dinner and stayed in for the night. Eventhough it was Saturday night and I should have gone out, I was SO exhausted from the last like week worth of going out. It was so nice to be able to chill out finally.








And finally, today is Sunday. I'm playing catch up today with homework, blogging, emails, CEC emails etc. Meeting up with Esther too! Life in Paris has been pretty eventful which has been great. I feel like I'm experiencing a lot, seeing a lot, but probably not practicing my french as much as I should be. It's a little frustrating. I really really want my french to become as close to fluent as possible by the time I leave. I've been writting down random observations in my moleskin (thanks mark!). I'll write something about them hopefully sometime in the next week.

Miss you all a ton. Please send updates about lives in LA. I can't believe school is starting in LA this week. I'm so bummed that I won't be around for the amazing events that occur during fall quarter, courtesy of CEC (yay!) and UCLA football.

That's all from me for now. OH!! I forgot, or I might have written about it in the last post, but Lea and Scott were here last week! It was SO amazing to see faces from home that I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE. Showed Lea around, took her out, we had fun!

And Food Blog for Nitey:
The food here is quite amazing. My lunches consist of crepes, both savory and sweet, paninis, sandwiches, and falafels (sp?)! There's an amazing falafel place in le Marais. Everyday on my way home I buy a baguette for 85 cents and in the morning i'll get a croissant! Pictures when I get a camera my love!

Photo credits go to Cassandra and Heather!

bisous bisous!