vendredi 13 juillet 2012

This week has gone by possibly faster than any of the past 6. And exactly one week from now, I will be packing my bags and preparing to leave Paris. It’s a strange place, where I am right now: I am still in Paris mode, but I am having to prepare for Texas mode again. And it’s bittersweet.

In the last two weeks, I have started to be more homesick for home and everyone who makes up the idea of “home” for me. So it’s for that reason that I am antsy to see everyone, to see my parents’ new home that they are already getting used to. But I have also had to slap myself a few times recently and remind myself to make the most of the rest of my time here.

I love it here. I absolutely love it. And that’s why it’s bittersweet.  But I think that if I were to stay here for a long time—not even permanently, but just for a longer time than 8 weeks, some things would have to change. I guess that means I’ll have to come back—just to test my theory, of course.

This past weekend, the church I’ve been going to here had a party on a boat on the River Seine! The theme was Scarlet O’Hara and Rhett Butler, Gone With The Wind, Civil-War-era boat ride down the “Mississippi River”. As you can expect, this meant no one had a clue what to wear (“What’s the Mississippi river?”).

It ended up being a very fun idea, and they even hired some French man to teach us how to “two-step.” (I must note that the first song he put on after teaching us to line dance was Mercy by Duffy. Wonderful song, but for two-stepping?! I wanted to step in with my side-kick Chloe to show them who’s boss.) The “un, deux--un deux trios quatre--un deux trios quatre” counting was a first and made me smile.

Tonight, I am going to eat raclette with my friends at a restaurant—apparently the idea of raclette is similar to fondue, but is different? Good story, Jen, right? I’ll have to blog about it after eating it, so I can actually have something to say about it.

This weekend is Bastille Day! To celebrate the French’s equivalent of independence day, there is a parade down the Champs Elysees in the morning, and fireworks behind the Eiffel Tower at night. Apparently, everyone picnics on the Champs de Mars all day to save their spot for the evening fireworks.  

I love the idea of having a parade on the Champs Elysees, because of the history that has happened there, and how symbolic it is. During the Occupation of France in WWII, Hitler and his army marched down the Champs Elysees in 1940. And upon the Liberation of Paris in 1944, the French army paraded down the Champs with Charles de Gaulle to symbolize restored control of Paris.

I ended up buying that book Paris-Brule-t-il (Is Paris Burning?) about the Occupation of France in WWII, and though I haven’t gotten past page 2, I will make progress! It’s mind over matter here. I am a reader. I am a reader. I am a reader.

Aaaannnnd for the last random thought to spill on my blog, here you go: I have to have my boss fill out an intern evaluation (for A&M), and when he handed it back to me, I saw he had written Sharon Stone as the student intern name, and Paul Newman Prince of Persia as the Intern evaluator. I simply responded, “I don’t understand.”

Generational thing? He wrote me a new one. 

Check out that reach! These are some experienced tourists. Welcome to Paris in the summer!