Fortunately, yours truly worked a bit of magic and has a decent semester lined up, having secured 5 of my six class choices. As follows Histoire du Socialisme (French), Sport and Politics: a history of the Olympic movement, Political Changes in Russia, History and Politics of the Middle East, Histoire Internationale au 20eme siecle (French), and Vichy France. The only downer was Histoire of Socialisme rather than Lectures de Paris (Readings of Paris), but such is life. 14 hours a week, no 8ams, no 7:15-9:15s, no Fridays. Pretty skillful if I say so myself. Get ready for term 2 baby!
In order to celebrate I cooked myself a huge dinner, decided not to shower and Annie came over and we fell asleep watching Blade Runner. Big night. However, I felt so much better in the morning, and it got even better when I looked outside and saw this:
View down the street from my apartment.Real snow! Not even the pathetic, they're so tiny you can hardly see them snowflakes that we have been getting. This snowfall was legit my friends. I also appreciated Annie's OMG ITS SNOW!!! face:
I was so excited I went for the most spectacular, somewhat slippery run up the Champs de Mars to the Eiffel Tower. C'etait trop beau. I continued the day with grocery shoppping, History of Fashion and an evening of Jazz with David, Jordana and Shaun (aka Jean Mercredi). Solid day team!
Wednesday was fairly uneventful, highlights being an extra-long final salsa session followed by drinks with our class. With my new schedule, I don't know if I'll be able to do it again, but will certainly try! Back at home, I whipped up the most delicious quiche, complete with sundried tomatoes, spinach, leek and goat cheese. Heavenly. Unfortunately a bit later I wasn't feeling so good for some reason and went to bed at 8:30 and slept over 12 hours.
Thursday I was up and out the door to my final Ethics class. I have to say it was definitely on my list of favorite classes, and teachers. I then hit the library hard, as I had a term paper due on Monday for History of Chile, and my attempts at internet research for my topic on the Schneider Doctrine had been relatively fruitless. However, my afternoon session at the library yielded some great books and I returned home inspired, and got right to work researching. I took a break to
head up to the pool for a swim before hitting the books again briefly before dinner. After a quick dinner I was out the door and over The International, in the 11th, where a Dutch band who was staying with Timon was playing a show. Our crowd turned up for support, and it was a really fun night, and the music, courtesy of Rupert Blackman and Co was really good. Ayumi and I also had a riot pretending to be groupies. Our favorite band member was Case on Bass, what a babe. I even got to enjoy yet another back rack bike ride at the end of the night with Timon.
Rubert Blackman Band. Kees (Pronounced Case) the base is right.Friday I was not in the best shape, and neither was Annie so we decided that the best way to rectify the situation was to eat baguette and then go get falafels from Rue des Rosiers. Best. Call. Ever. They really are the best lunch of all time, and bound to cheer a person up. Including this person. Annie and I then went to hit up Marche au Puces for some dirt cheap boots, but sadly the website had false advertising and it was closed. Oh well. I headed home and got to message Chrissy for the first time since September which was lovely. I miss my roomie. I then geared up for a series of concerts, the first once being the Sciences Po Choir and Orchestra with Corina and Annie. Remi and Robin from Ballroom Dancing were performing, and it was very nice to take in the show.
We ducked out a bit early as Annie and I were going to see a concert put on by the studio that
Etienne is doing his internship at. It was pretty sweet, getting to walk in on the guestlist and getting free drinks from Etienne, not a bad deal. The performers were also good. The first girl, sadly her name escapes me, had such a delicious, sultry, voice. The main act was Ernesto Tito, a carribean 20 piece musical ensemble. He worked the crowd and it was a hoot, swaying to many awesome sax and trumpet solos. The second great night of concerts concluded with a very yummy stop to get some greek food. I love food. It makes life so happy.
Ernesto himself front and center.
champed it if I say so myself, knocking out the first thousand of 2500 words by the evening. I got ready and then headed off the Fran and Juliette's for a Christmas wine and cheese. I don't think I have ever seen such an array of cheese in my life. It was sinful. Add in Christmas jumpers (sweaters), hot spiced wine and Christmas tunes, and we have the makings of a great night. So so much cheese. Annie and I then took off to head off towards Alesia for the Boom Latino Party. Kindof reminded me of a frat party without the frat boys - aka a really packed house party where movement is pretty much impossible and you end up having lots of drinks spilled on you. I wasn't so keen on it at first, but it went uphill as Glenn, Marina, Tom, David, Jean Mercredi and Jordana rolled up. I was also infinitely pleased that Timour brought his cashier from Monop (a small grocery store) with him. Amazing. I then peaced out for a bit to try and hit up Le Financier with Simon and Timon but that plan was a fail and so after a brief return to the Boom Latino House, I trekked home and was in bed by 3.
Annie and the Monop guy.Sunday during the day I continued my trend of champing the essay writing. I was doing so well in fact that I accepted an invitation by Timon and Simon to visit the Musee de L'armee in Invalides to see a very interesting exhibition on Charles de Gualle. The man is a hero in France, and the exhibit was essentially propaganda extolling this view. Nevertheless it was quite interesting, and I enjoyed the multi-media presentation of it, where all the visitors get free headsets to listen to his story as you stroll through the rooms. We also watched a 30min video highlighting his life. I have to say my favorite thing about the whole thing was passing by the tomb of Napoleon the 1st. The building was built to house his remains and those of his relatives. The man was a champion. I enjoyed a nice velib ride back to the apartment, enjoying the crisp air and the fact I didn't have to wear my winter coat for the first time in weeks.
Napoleon's tomb. The historian in me was thrilled. I got changed and headed out to Concorde Atlantique, a cruise boat I had been on at the very start of the year. This time it was for an end of term soiree de danse with my ballroom dancing class. There were three dance floors, two devoted to salsa, and one to rock and roll. I have definitely have some work to do on my free styling/responding the the man's lead while freestyling. But practice makes perfect and I the more I go the more confidence will be gained. The rock room was a real blast for Daniel and I in particular. I got home procrastinated a bit before just going to bed, vowing to get up early and finish the last bit of the essay when I was fresh on Monday.
Romantic anyone?
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