Exploration

Hey all!

Spent the weekend in the company of various assistants! I last left off on Saturday evening, when I left to meet Caely for a (romantic) delicious Italian dinner downtown. We then found Seth at Place des Lices and searched for a bar. I had a glass of wine at a classy little place called L’Endroit (literally, The Place) and then we walked to Republique to await assistant Emma from Maine to arrive via metro. We went to an Irish pub named Kilkenny’s where I had a Kilkenny—delicious dark Irish beer. Emma studied abroad here last year, so she had tons of suggestions on restaurants, bars, clubs, and educational/cultural activities, of course. Good to get to know another person.

Had to metro home, and I was the only one in the apartment that night! So it was kind of a let down to go from socializing to solitude…

Yesterday, I slept in. Caely texted about a lunch/photography outing, so I went to her place right near Parlement in the historic center. It was pretty perfect location-wise and came furnished, but it is on the top floor so the ceiling is half sloping, and you have to bend down to get into the bathroom! Still a nice place for what an assistant needs to live here. Speaking of which, I lost a perfect apartment yesterday but found two more great ones today. I’ve left messages and emails, and one guy responded to say a person ahead of me gets to decide by tomorrow—so keep your fingers crossed that he or she turns it down!!! Or that I hear back on the other opportunity!

So anyway, I wandered around the pretty medieval parts of town with Caely and Seth with their fancy cameras putting mine to shame. I’ll share some of my takings with you in a post to follow. We managed to find the tourist office and got free maps and a look at the little history exhibit inside it. We also found some churches and other picturesque streets I had not seen before. I headed back in the evening to meet PA, fresh from another basketball victory, and we just cooked dinner and watched tv movies until late since he does not have class Monday mornings.

Which brings me to today—I met assistant Katherine at Ste-Anne to walk around some more. Got a kebab, took pictures of the city and the big park, Jardin des Plantes. We tried to go to a hot chocolate place recommended by Emma and Seth as the best in the world, but it was sadly closed on Mondays. Back at the apartment, I’ve been chillin’ and nursing myself to recover from this cold… PA has a class at 6, so I’ll run and buy food for the week and anxiously await responses on my apartment.

By the way, it is so cold here already! It only gets into the 60s here, so I'm wearing layers. I'm pretty sure it is still in the 80s and even 90s in Knoxville... :(

I promise my life will be cooler when I get a place downtown and start working. Then I’ll have anecdotes from working city life to share! ;)