Curtain

"Paris, c'est fini? Ça va te manquer?"

You're done with Paris. Will you miss it?

Question of the day. Answer: hell yes. I spent my final Thursday evening in Paris sitting at Trocadero in front of a lit-up Eiffel Tower at about midnight shooting the breeze with Mark Anthony, Trevor, Patrick. (This after one last round of Mark Anthony signature chocolat chaud.) MA had a few bottles to finish off before he goes back to the States in a couple days, so we installed ourselves on a bench and passed about two hours taking in la Tour Eiffel one last time.

Will I miss it? Yes and no. The Eiffel Tower is pas grand chose, in my opinion. That is to say, it's not really all that spectacular. However, I must admit that though impress me it may not, whenever I pass it and it's all lit up by the evening sun, I get this sort of giddy feeling, like I can't believe I actually live here.

Lived. here. Not to get all sappy and poetic over that big iron K'Nex structure, but Paris is pretty freaking sweet, and passing four months here has been a surreal pleasure. And now it's over. Things I will miss? Boulangeries, wine, café au lait, coca cola with real sugar, the sun setting over the seine, the friends that I have made. Things I'm excited to go back to? Familiarity, my family (though they have all been to Europe this semester to visit me!), my bed, television, lack of sketchy African men asking my hand in marriage, peanut butter.

Everything is pretty much all wrapped up. Internship is finished, all my reports are written, we've begun the goodbyes (which suck). But hey, time to move on. I'd like to apologize in advance for the franglais that will ensue when I return home. After four months of speaking French, there are just some words that escape me in English. So bare with me.

Not to end on a sad, sappy note, Italy in two days! Here's to pizza, spaghetti, and gelato everyday for one week! Oh yeah, and lots and lots of house wine. :)

:: yea for 5 second shutter-speed! ::

Soft and low when the evening comes

To be honest, there's really nothing much to report. Evenings these days have been sweet and calm. Spring has sprung, and everything is all bloomed and pink and pretty. My nose has been running non stop, and I can't go ten minutes without being racked with sneezes, but you know what? I'll take pollen over cold driving rain any day. (French people, by the way, don't say "bless you"! What the heck?) Paris seems to get a bit more friendly when the weather gets nicer. More folks outside, more tourists crowding the metros. It's nice to see some more life in the city.

I met up with Mark Anthony and Patrick today after work to play some tennis. Well, I suck at tennis. Hand-eye coordination didn't seem to click today. I'm more of a runner, you see. (Been clocking miles for two weeks now and no more knee pain!) It was fun though. I finally got the hang of it after a few misdirected serves into the court next to ours. (And by a few I mean like a dozen...) I don't give up easily though (read: I'm stubborn, not necessarily determined), so maybe I'll dust off the racket in our basement at home and try to find a court and a partner when I get back to Amhurrica.

Afterwards, MA and I threw together an improv dinner of baked tortellini with bolognaise sauce and cheese, along with cidre, and some ice cream-chocolate-nutella sauce that MA concocted that tasted like a warm, melted piece of heaven. We chatted it up for a couple hours, then I headed home, full and satisfied. The evening was so cool and inviting that I returned chez moi à pied. The walk was about 40 or 45 minutes, and lovely the whole way.

In other news, Jordan is coming! And we're going to Italy! And it's going to be awesome! One final frontier before my bank account suffers its fatal wound. (It's pretty severely injured right now.) But whatever. I didn't spend all summer walking around looking like Smokey the Bear in my silly park ranger hat and ugly, hip-enlarging brown pants for nothing! It's time to put my hard-earned savings to good use! I'll be frugal when I get back to the States. But for now, here's to learning Italian in just two weeks. :-)