Birds, and Cream Cheese, and Colds, Oh My!

It was a wonderful thing having no wednesday class! I woke up, and went to the Arc de Triomph to take lots of pictures! I wondered around the Champs-Élysées, and now that I've been as touristy as possible, I can cross it off my "List of Things to See in Paris." After passing out while reading Harry Potter in the Tuileries, I thought it might be a good idea to return home and nap/work on my puzzle before going over to my friends house for dinner. She found the latest episode of Gossip Girl on some illegal site and so we were going to have an American party and watch it! 


I personally think my friend and I brought the best asset to the meal. A real delicacy. PHILADELPHIA CREAM CHEESE! We found this store called "Thanksgiving," that sells everything from America! Walking in was like a little slice of home I never wanted to leave behind. Jello, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Hellman's products, Aunt Jemima pancake batter, the list goes on and on. Never mind that the cream cheese cost almost $7. Moral of the story? You can get home, but it'll cost ya!


Bad news. Thursday was a rotten horrible terrible no good very bad day. For many reasons, but I will spare you most of them. For one, I became sick with a monster cold. Those things tend to put dampers on your day and crush your system a little bit. Wednesday night, I was skyping with mom in my bed with the lights off before I went to sleep and got out of bed to put my computer away before my eyes had adjusted to the dark with no computer on. As I bent down blindly, I banged my eye into my fireplace and....well...now I look tough? Between the cold and the bruise, waking Thursday morning was no pleasure of mine. On the up side, my roommate Ali and I have booked a weekend to Sicily as a getaway from trivial emotional trials and tribulations! I cannot wait to see her. The only rule is its just us. All weekend. 


Yesterday NYU took us to spend the day in the small northern medieval town of Provins. We got a tour of all the architecture, and got to climb up into the dungeon! Chouette (very cool)! This was closely followed by a 5 (yes, 5) course meal with kir, and aperitif, and both a red wine and a white wine, depending on the course. It was a true Parisian lunch. And truly delicious. The Falconry show succeeding lunch was equally enjoyable. The pamphlet introduced the show as "a Falconry and Equestrian show unrivaled in Europe," but it was so ridiculous that I'm pretty convinced that its unrivaled because there is no other one on Europe. I'm not one for birds (they tend to release certain excrements on my head too often) but I was totally enthralled. Mostly because Alicia and I narrated the story line. There was in fact a story line! I was feeling really low from my cold at this point so trying to follow the narrator in French was a bit of a struggle. In my head, the woman had her choice of suitor based on who had the best plumage and most wonderful bird. I'm not really sure where the evil horseback rider and snow owl came in, but I'm sure I can make room for them! Costumes were great, and for the first time (ironically in France and not the US) I saw a bald eagle! Our bird! All the Americans cheered :) I'll post pictures soon - be sure to look! 


You should all be very proud...I took a bus there and back. Go me!!!!!!!!!


Last night was one of my good friend's, Liz's, birthday! We went over to her apartment and then went out dancing to celebrate. At this point, my head was all sinus-ey (not sure if that's a word, but now you know exactly how I was feeling!) so I headed home a little early and went to sleep in the hopes of waking up with a voice that actually makes me sound like a woman. No such luck, but my head is feeling a little better! Today is the long-awaited techno parade through Paris (techno is big here), followed by a night long techno soirée everywhere in the city! Before I go to that, I must put the list of cultural activities we received yesterday into my calendar (its such an exciting and long, rich, list!) and make my breakfast. I'm feeling sunny-side-up egg on toast this morning with orange juice! I think we're all meeting Kate's French friend later and I believe he's bringing all his friends so it'll be a big America, meet France. I can't wait to make more French friends! Somewhere in this day I've got to figure out how to say "sinus infection" in French so I can go to the pharmacy. It's no fun feeling this sick :(


I'll let you know how the techno parade goes. And I promise not to do the robot. Really. I won't.
Lots of love and can't wait to give you the next update! xox