A shout out to Madame Farmen

I've been thinking about my high school French teacher. I really feel like I owe her the opportunity to say " Lea, I told you so!" I always felt like my foreign language class was such a gimme...automatic A, like gym. Well, I'm really wishing I'd picked up a little French while I was taking it for six years, b/c it would be handy now.

This weekend was fun and eventful. All you have to do in Paris is leave you're apartment and you'll find things going on. Everyone's lounging outside in parks and enjoying each other's company. Everywhere you go there are beautiful parks and gardens and monuments and historically relevant architecture. I have this huge appreciation for what I'm seeing and I wonder if the people who live here are as fascinated as I am or if one is just gets used to it after a while.

Fete de la Musique

On Saturday, we visited Bastille.. On our way, we came across all sorts of bands playing in the streets for Fete de la Musique. It was great and a really nice day outside for the fete. We even saw a heavy metal band that had formed its own little mosh pit in the street. We spent most of the day Saturday exploring the 4th arrondisement. Tons of people and tons of great boutiques and cheaper shopping than you might find in our arrondisement...so happy to spot an H&M.

For dinner, we met up with two of Clint's co-workers...also internationals (Canadian and Portugese). We ate at Refuge des Fondues which is well known for serving its wine out of baby bottles to elude the tax on wine served in glasses. It was wild. The restaurant has two very long communal tables, where instead of pulling the tables out, the owner always has the girl with short skirt climb over. We sat next to this group of American college students who were studying in London and I had a great time. Not that I'm biased, but Americans are so damn fun. We really are. =)

Clint mentioned that he was sad that Europeans don't have peanutbutter and the one girl next to us from IU pulled out a can of peanutbutter from her purse and shared it with us. After my two baby bottles of wine...I was having fun. This restaurant was in Montmatre which is the college area of Paris. So after dinner, we went to several bars, watched the end of the Russia/Netherlands soccer match and went home.

Yesterday, we met up with an Internationals in Paris group and watched the Italy/Spain soccer match. It kills me when there's no score. Really?!? I've been watching for two hours and the score is 0-0. That sucks. But, the good thing about sports is that you don't have to know the language to enjoy it...so, I'm trying to like it.