Well, well, well.. TUESDAY NIGHT:
It was inevitable that I would lose everything important while living in Paris. Well not EVERYTHING important, but my license, my navigo pass (for the metro), my student ID, and my American bankcard. Yup. Only me.
Imagine it: Me, outside of Paris, just realized I left my coinpurse containing the above items in a cab, so I have NO MONEY to get back home, standing in the COLD. What a sight. I had to call Lauma to come and save me because I didn't know where I was, and this "friend" wasn't even polite enough to tell me where I was or where the train was. Good friend, eh? NOT.
I need 2 hands to count the number of times I've lost licenses, phones, and debitcards. And you BETTER believe I got lectured for it... ALL DAY LONG.
So I had to cancel my debit card, blah blah blah; report everything to the police, try to call the cab company etc. Luckily, the cab drivers are "supposed" to turn in lost items to the Paris Lost and Found Office, and the office tracks you down if they've found your stuff. I've called for the past 3 days, but nothing yet :( I will keep trying though. So, since I have my french bank account and managed NOT TO LOSE my french debit card, I made a wire transfer from US to France. Yeah, that takes 5 days.
I'm down to ramen noodles, a slice of ham, and some cheese. Will, the bartender at James Joyce offered to loan me some money because I'm sure I seemed so pathetic; I'm budgeting 30 euros for about a week. This is REAL COLLEGE LIFE.
But at least I still have my passport and everything else important. At first it seemed like my ENTIRE LIFE, and it REALLY SUCKED, but I got over it. "C'est la vie." Once again, just material things- things that can be replaced (except for the damn Navigo pass). It's good to know I have plenty of people that love me and care about me both HERE AND HOME to help me out :) I LOVE Y'ALL!
Needless to say, I spent most of the week on the couch, especially Wednesday. Good thing my last class of the week happened to be Tuesday.
I needed to get myself out of my funk, so I got back into my routine.I got out of bed, got myself dressed, and decided to go to La Defense to see if I could get my NavigoPass reinstated. YEAH RIGHT. I went to school to see Farah, and she kindly sent one of the guys from the student office to walk with me to the Police Station, so I could report my loss. After the Navigo disappointed, I needed a pick-me-up, so I called Lauma. And to my surprise, she invited me to the POOL! I was so excited! She said yeah, it's free, please come. She made my day. But she lied about the free part so that I would go with her. She's so sneaky :) The fee was only 1.70 euro, so not too bad. She's such my savior. So we get to the pool, and come to find out, you need a swimcap to swim in the pools in Paris. There went another 2 euros. (My debt to Lauma is adding up!! haha) Me, in a swimcap. Yes, it was as funny as you are imagining.
I had to pick up my UBER cool underwater camera because the pool boy fussed me :( So I had to take a picture of myself in the totally rad HOT PINK swimcap before putting my camera away :)
It turns out, Parisians don't go to the pool for leisure, unfortunately. It's exercize. NO FUN! Oh well.
She really made my day :)
After the pool Thursday, I cooked shrimp alfredo. Jos and Ale invited their friend over. Lauma and Laura came over, too. So that makes 7. Good thing I made a big pot. No leftovers. haha.
Lauma is such a good photographer:)
Because we had so many guests, we ate Japanese style on the floor. It was fun.
Friday I was determined to get out of the apartment. Santiago and I attempted another field trip. This time it was a little more successful. We only managed to find the Père Lachaise cemetery, though. This cemetery is famous for being the home of the tomb of Jim Morrison (The Doors).
Also, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Delacroix, Molière, and many more.
But the COOLEST thing was finding this:
This was the best part of the entire trip. Seeing my family name right in front of me, all the way in Paris, really made me realize how wonderful it is to be here. Seeing all of these last names that we have in Louisiana in France only strenghthens the idea that blood is thick. Across the world, we still have family and traditions that have lasted for centuries, and even longer.
Here are some pictures that many of you will enjoy. I found so many family names here that we have in South Louisiana:
Lecomte
Gros
Plaisance
Riviere
Landry
Baillet
Berger
Lagarde
Bourgeois
Bourg
Dubois
Leblanc
Simon
A few more interesting things in Père Lachaise:
Beautiful stained glass...
Lacoste? The brand? Maybe.
More stained glass
Bellini
Why hello, CRUELLA!
Merci Monsieur Gustave Charpentier, the man my street in Paris is named after.
Great views
This was a crematorium...Creepy, huh?
More stained glass...
And how cliché? The crows in the cemetery. Also very creepy.
Friday night the roomies and I went out. I needed some fun. First we went to a FREE champagne bar (you can never go wrong with that). After, we went to a place called six seven. The music was AWESOME. It was a pretty calm night..no pictures because we ALL forgot our cameras :( After that, we took the night bus home.
Saturday, the Ales left for Madrid and Jos left to bring Pilar to the trainstation. So, I stayed home and cleaned house and did laundry. Saturday night I went out with Laura and Lauma and we drank wine and ate a baguette in the street. hehe.
Sunday, I stayed in bed until almost 3 and did more laundry and homework. It was a pretty lazy day. Now, we are here, early early Monday morning (3AM Paris time), because it takes SO LONG to load pictures onto this blog. So now, TIME FOR BED :)
Sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite!
Later Gators!
À plus tard,
Kristen
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