I just reached the two month mark on my stay here in Paris. It's really unbelievable that its already been two months and even more unbelievable that I only have two months left here. I've definitely come to feel at home here and to tell you the truth, I really don't want to go back to LA. I would love to stay here for the year, but of course I've got too many commitments to deal with.
So what has happened in the last month or so? The first thing I can think of is that I saw Bon Iver at the beginning of October! My friend Janelle and I went over to La Maroquinerie in the 20th and saw them perform in this tiny little venue. I blogged about it for Fuel, although I'm having issues posting it, but you can read it here. It was such a good show. It was exactly what I needed for the slump I was in at the time.
I spent a weekend in Grenoble visiting my uncle and his family with my grandparents. Grenbole is a small city nestled at the bottom of three mountains. My friend Claire is studying there for the quarter, but she wasn't there that weekend! Thankfully, her friends were there and they showed me around. It was really nice of them and we had fun! One memorable moment was when we went to this bar and the music that was playing was The National! I was so impressed by the musical tastes of Grenoble at that moment. Andrew and Liz also took me up to the Bastille. We had to take a ...ski-lift-like contraption up the mountain. It was gorgeous out! My cousins were absolutely adorable. They're growing up really fast and you can see their personalities starting to develop.
Last weekend was a good weekend here in Paris. We went out Thursday and met this guy from the states who was a UCSB Alum. He was suppose to leave Friday morning but ended up missing his flight and staying till Monday morning. We showed him around the town a little bit. Thursday we went to two irish pubs. Dealt with some drama..... Friday we went to La Rhumerie. Saturday we went to Andy Warhloos. It was too intense of a drinking weekend, but we definitely had fun! Sunday I went for a walk along the Seine and stalked some skaters for a little bit. Sorry, I'm a creeper like that.
Two nights ago Janelle and I met up with my friend Louis. We went to this Irish pub off the Vavin metro stop and met up with a whole bunch of his friends. Afterwards we went back to this guys apartment and chilled there till FIVE in the morning. It was such a long night but it was so fun! It was so great to be around french people and practice my french again. It had seriously been like two weeks since I had a real conversation in French. Last night we went to Le Showcase with some friends and saw Maps & Atlases play. Janelle and I attempted to interview but it was failure. No big. It was so good to see some live music again. There are tons of shows in November that I want to go to. Tickets are super pricey, but it'll be worth it I think. We were going to go again tonight, because Peaches was dj-ing, but I got too tired. I know, I'm lame. Janelle and I have a language partner! He's a friend of my cousin (WHO IS NOW IN LA AND YOU SHOULD ALL CALL MY OLD CELL PHONE NUMBER AND HANG OUT WITH HIM) and is adorable.
School's been good. I find myself not studying as much as I should, but I think its okay. We have midterms coming up. Spending this weekend studying...kind of...not really. Hah. I think most of us abroad can agree that the study part of "studying abroad" isnt really working.
Life here has seriously been amazing. I forget to appreciate it sometimes. Everyone always says your feelings while being abroad are always going up and down, and I totally agree with that. I have days where I'm SO incredibly happy to be here and then days where I'm really missing home... or well people from home. I've met really amazing people here, both French and American, but I dont think they'll ever compare to the people from home. (and yes I know I say that all the time) I wish I could stay here longer though, and get to know my friends here better.
I've been awful at taking pictures because I hate my camera. Sorry!
Going to Barcelona next week with Taleen and Nina and then to London to see Yuri and Connor! Missing you all at home tremendously and wishing that you guys could be here in Paris with me. Sorry this post was kind of boringggggg.
Bisous
Oh. and P.S.
I've decided that I love the smell of roasting/roasted chestnuts. Why? Because it smells like bonfire!
I've also realized that french couples apparently love to sit on each others laps at the park and proceed to take pictures of themselves with their camera phones.
I recently found a new pair of fake wayfarers at my great-aunt's house (score!). I've punched out the lenses in my old pair and have decided that they are now my drunk glasses. Therefore if I happen to have some hipster glasses on sans lenses, you'll know that I'm probably in my drunk alias mode.
and
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NITEYYYYYYYYYYYYY!
//edit: I think I'm going to start judging people on how many applications they have under the "boxes" tab on facebook. Bascially, if you have anymore than MAYBE the bumpersticker application, we're done.
