Oh La Lauren

Time for a weekend update. Or, more like a week update.

Lundi: Skipped atelier, extremely tired from weekend travels (Grey weather increases incapability de me reveiller et de me lever). Spent the day thinking about how I should somehow study for my devoirs sur table on Tuesday, but somehow things fell through. Lexy and I wanted to poke all the French students in our soc class because they were being so disrespectful, talking the entire class. Some weren’t even taking notes. The topic of the class was “le ghetto noir américain” which somehow made Lexy and me nostalgic for home.

Mardi: E-mailed my sociology paper analyzing the presentation of an urban space in Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Pierre responds in 45 minutes giving me a 17, which is a really really good grade in France. Wondered around the Paris VII library for half an hour trying to find outlets and internet that worked. Finally sat down and reviewed Fleurs du Mal notes. Then took my 3-hour sur table. How was it? I have no idea. I analyzed a poem, I wrote 6 pages total. I have no idea if it’s what she wanted.  What’s better/worse is that she may/may not have mine graded before I leave. We’ll see! Then I went to the SBC holiday party a little late. There was lots of cheese and French macaroons! There were some musical performances, some Irish dancing, and then Charlie’s on-the-spot impression of Mme Mellado which made everyone laugh. Afterwards we went to Charlie’s apartment since his host parents left. Friends got quite drunk and rather high. I didn’t, but still had fun. We danced the soulja boy, how could it not be fun?

Mercredi: Last History of Paris class, aww. Though no one wanted to go. It was about Montparnasse and Montmartre, the former quartiers péripheriques. For the fieldtrip, we spent most of it walking around Montparnasse. I learned thing I’d never known before, like that it was a big place for artists and for the working class. We went to a church for the working class constructed in 1900 that was really…bland. The interior was steel which made it like an Eiffel Tower turned inside out. And there were some paintings that reminded me of faded bathroom wallpaper. Went back to SBC and then to Starbucks with Liza, where we were teased by employees as usual (though not offensively) and sipped on over-priced coffee. I read an article for sociology about forms of social control in French suburbs, banlieu. What is most interesting to me is that the media here characterizes the banlieu by being violent places—meaning there is often as many as 1 death per year. Yes, 1 death. Wow.

Jeudi: Went with Liza to MacDo, where I paid 4,50 euro for 6 chicken mcnuggets and a petite frites. Can’t wait for that to cost $2.50! Everyone in the SBC reading room had to be quiet for Gabe, who loves to broadcast the fact that he has ADHD. I say, la-dee-dah, everyone wants a quiet place to study and he shouldn’t be an exception. I asked Alan if I could have 4 girl friends come over before we headed out to a club. Well, first come Annie and Iraz, and then Charlie calls and he’s with Kristen Ahye so they come over. As well as Christina and Vitalie and Reed Stokes. Ya, not what I told my host dad at all. But anyways we had a great time here, things didn’t get too rowdy, though it was loud and I was a little bit afraid about what Alan would think. For some reason, adding Turkey to the EU was the topic of the night. So we end up going out to a club called The Rex Club near Bonne Nouvelle. We get to the metro stop and the exits are gated. We’re like, uh, are we trapped in a metro station? We went to the other end of the station and were able to get out. The club had a nice esthetic but we got there around 12:30 and there was no one. Just some awkward dudes. And the music wasn’t great. But as time went on a new DJ came in, and he played music and then had someone playing a bass and some type of drum thing, and then all sorts of people came in. It was pretty fun by the end! We left to embark on Noctilien adventures. We walked past two huge arc de triomphe things while looking for the bus stop. First, from Strasbourg-Saint Denis to Gare de l’est, Kristen noticed the guys in front of us had their crack pipes on them. Then while I was waiting for the circulator, a car pulled up in front of the bus stop and opened its door, knocking into a dude who was looking at the bus schedules. They started bickering at each other while the dude who came out of the car had his bottle of Jack in hand. Then some people on a Vespa pull up and work to pull the guys apart, and all the people around the bus stop come over to investigate. In the end everything was fine…I got home at 3.

Vendredi: Woke up at 10:30, sat around…and then took a nap at 11:30. Sat in the apartment and worked on horrendous lit paper. Then went to a photography exhibition with the works of some friends from Sweet Briar. Afterwards, when leaving to go to Laura and Aurora’s place, I ran into Alan on the street. He said that my guests weren’t too much noise the other night, which was a big relief for me. He’s more chill than I think. Anyways, went over to celebrate Laura’s birthday thought it’s not til the end of the month. Her host mom is shorter than I am, it’s crazy! Also, they have the CUTEST 1-year-old son. Host mom bought two really rich chocolate cakes, and we talked about our Parisian lives that are coming to an end. Then I met up with Liza at Duplex, which was really fun! Happy hour means two beers for the price of one, so we took those, watched European guys dance as oddly as they do, and then joined in. I had a great time! This is not the traditional Hanukah for sure. Got home at 3 AM via Noctilien. Oh yeah, how could I forget. On the Noctilien from CDG étoile to the circulator stop, I was standing in the bus, and three guys come in and all say bonsoir to me. Then they continue to tell me that they find me very pretty and like my smile, and they say they’re Algerian, and some spoke English and some didn’t. They were like, let me give you my number! I want to give you my number! And then I walked off the bus. I think in the past I would have been scared by such a situation, but now I just learn to deal with it and joke around.

Samedi: Wow, it’s Saturday. Hm. I’m hoping to hang out with Lara and get some work done, and then go to a club called Showcase. Debating if it’s really necessary to go seek external sources for my literature paper…yes, this thing is a curse. Also need to figure out when I’m seeing Julien.