So apparently I have yet to recover from my trip as it’s 3pm in Paris and I just woke up. I guess I needed the sleep. My friend left this morning for the states so I am now officially on my own. It’s a little scary and the city a bit intimidating, but I’m determined to figure everything out and make my way around. The weather is wonderful. I don’t want to jinx it, but I’m almost cold. The wind is blowing and it looks like it rained while I was getting my beauty sleep.

Yesterday I woke around 11am and my friend brought in a very tasty breakfast of fresh jus d'orange and croissants de chocolat. Not a bad way to start the day.

Ok, weather update, it is now pouring rain and blowing in my window! I guess it’s like Tallahassee in the summer when every day around three o’clock there’s a sudden monsoon to moisten things a bit.

Back to yesterday. We finished breakfast and then I helped my friend pack for his trip to the states by sitting in the chair, looking at the Eiffel Tower out the window and taking cat naps every few minutes. I’m sure he was grateful for my advice and expertise on what to pack. If you know me at all, you’ll know I am an extraordinarily good packer. J

We then set out to run some errands and to scout out the neighborhood a bit. I now know were to get my groceries, what café to chill in and what bars are less creepy than others. We picked up some special sunscreen that was a request from my friend’s mother and then headed to Jardin du Luxembourg for some intense sun-sitting, people watching and ice-cream eating action. We played games like, are those people French or are they tourists? I did not do as well as I had hoped but by the end I was starting to get the gist so I will keep trying on my own. We talked about which French people to avoid (the guys with the huge baggy pants, backward caps, headphones and backpacks…equivalent to those in the states who still wear chains and their pants hanging off their buttocks. They are the hip, gangster type of guys.) I was also briefed on what to know about the French attitude and demeanor. One example my friend gave me involved a simple trip to the grocery store. In the states, if you have a question about a product and there is someone standing next to you, it is completely acceptable to casually ask that person if they know whether one brand is better than the other. In France, that’s a big no no. The French (for the most part of course, there are always exceptions) can’t be bothered. They don’t look at you when you’re walking down the street and they certainly don’t smile or say hello. They are hard to get to know and they keep their private lives very much to themselves. You must enter a store with a “Bonjour Monsieur or Mademoiselle” and when you leave you ALWAYS say “Merci, Au Revoir”

After the gardens, which were of course beautiful and filled with such a wide array of characters, we met up with a friend of my friend’s and headed to his place for a dinner party. We picked up some groceries to make a simple meal and joined the friend of my friend, his wife and 2 more friends of all of theirs for a very lovely evening. The host was Greek and we all started laughing hysterically when in the middle of dinner an 80’s mix came blasting through the stereo, complete with “I need a Hero,” “Walk Like an Egyptian” and “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.” We later segued into some sort of European rap montage, which was equally funny because it was very bad. We drank wine, ate our pasta, then our salads and finished up with lime sorbet with vodka on it. I wasn’t sure I would like it but I found it surprisingly tasty! I really enjoyed being with such a wonderful group of people. It made me miss my friends but they were all so fascinating and different that it made it really fun. Two of them speak 5 or 6 languages and have lived all over the World. Their perspective of people and respect for the countries in which they have lived was inspiring. They were all incredibly bright, funny, warm and kind and they made me feel very comfortable. A few will be around while I’m here and they promised they would drag me with them if they go anywhere fun. I’m hoping they were serious about that!

I am trying to decide what to do about a cell phone. For some reason I feel naked without one, but I have a feeling I can get by without. (I know, you may gasp in shock at the notion that I think that’s possible.) See, I am a different person already. It’s a miracle.

The first night I came up to the apartment alone I managed to open the doors without too much drama but by the time I got to the top of the 5th flight of tiny twirling uneven stairs, the timer on the lights went out. So I stood there in pitch-black darkness for about a minute going, “ok seriously?!” I felt around the wall for a while until I finally stumbled upon the button but I have to admit I was kind of scared and had enough time to imagine myself sleeping on the doorstep for the rest of the night. On one hand I think it’s very clever to have lights like that on timers. It certainly saves electricity, which we in LA can obviously appreciate. But if I hadn’t remembered my friend telling me there was a button there, I might not have known what to do.

Now that it’s after 4pm, I think I should get outside and find something to eat. The rain has stopped and the sun is out, but the clouds are daring to cry again. I might go see Paris je t’aime tonight. It’s an on camera ode to the City of Lights involving 18 different filmmakers. It’s supposedly quite wonderful and I’ve been advised to see it towards the beginning of my trip. I have so many lists of things to do while I’m here that I hope last night was my last “need to oversleep all night and all day." I don’t want to waste any more time!