With the wind at my back, I don't ever even bat an eye

"Life is like music; it must be composed by ear, feeling, and instinct, not by rule." -Samuel Butler

Plans will get you nowhere here. Loose plans or ideas are fine, but specific things will more than likely not happen, at least not when you want them to. You plan for your plans to be interrupted. But that's half the excitement of Paris, a wrong turn can take you down a street you never would have stumbled upon otherwise. These streets can take you pretty much anywhere.

And the metro can really take you anywhere. I love the metro here. It's so efficient and it has so much character. You never know what to expect. I have quite a long metro ride to class in the mornings because they are doing construction at the stop where I would normally change lines. I don't mind too much though, it gives me a chance to de-stress in the mornings. There's something incredibly peaceful about seeing the world zoom by all around you while you just sit and take it all in. There's no point in being rushed, you can't make the metro go faster. So you might as well enjoy the ride. I'm finding my metro rides to be equivalent to the time I would spend driving in Columbus. When I drive it's my time, just me and my music. The morning metro commute serves as the same sort of escape.

Thursday was a very low-key day. We decided to take it easy after the first day of class, plus we had a phonetics test the next day. For dinner on Thursday we had some wine in honor of Alexander McQueen courtesy of Mme Dugan. I love how integral wine is in French culture. AND we had the most amazing dessert. It was very simple, but very delicious. Mme Dugan made her own warm chocolate sauce (she repeatedly tells us that sauces are the most important component of any dish) and drizzled it over sliced bananas with a little bit of whipped cream on top. The simplicity of the food here amazes me. It doesn't sound like much but the combination of flavors and temperatures was to die for. I could not have been paired with a better host Mom.

Friday we had more class and the phonetics test, followed by another interesting Crous lunch. After Gabi finished class, we met at Monoprix to buy some groceries. A seemingly simple task like going to the grocery store can be an overwhelming adventure. It's always the little cultural differences that stick out to me the most. You have to pay to use carts here. ANd it doesn't come cheap. You have to feed a euro into the cart in order for it to unlock from the rest. Craziness. So far Pringles are the only common factors I've been able to find between American snacks and French snacks. Everything else is different. It's even an adventure picking out groceries!


Today Gabi and I wandered around our neighborhood and stumbled across some awesome stores and some interesting restaurants. Basically, we love where we live. It's an area that we probably would have never made the effort to see had we not lived here. But that's what's so great about it...it's very Parisian. It's relatively untouched by tourism, which makes for lower prices, friendlier service, and more overall charm. Tonight I believe we're going out in the Bastille area which we've never been to before, so hopefully it will be fun.

I can smell dinner right now. I don't know what she's cooking but it smells incredible.