My Birthday

The week passed quickly (though I did see La Cantatrice Chauve a.k.a. The Bald Soprano in the original theater where it has been playing for over 50 years).

On my birthday, I went to class like normal, then after, I picked up some gorgeous Gerber daisies, as sort of a little personal celebration. It was raining, and I was holding these bright, beautiful flowers, with my purple umbrella. I looked down and saw the purple reflection on the ground, and felt like I was in a painting.

After lounging around my apartment all afternoon, which was wonderful, I met up with a couple of my friends at one friend's apartment. She had baked a vegan cake for me (total surprise), complete with 20 candles and presents. We met up with another friend at an incredible vegan restaurant in Paris, where I had what may be the best tofu ever. Later, we went the 11th arrondissement (district of Paris), to an street called Oberkampf, with a lot of bars. We met up with some other friends and went drinking, from bar to bar. Drinking age in Paris is 16, by the way, so they never ask for i.d.'s. At about 2am, I realized I had missed the metro (again, if anyone read the previous post), so my friend and I walked back to my apartment. For some reason, it didn't occur to me to take a cab. The walk took almost two hours, so I got home around 4am. I collapsed into bed fully dressed; in the morning, I realized that my host family had no idea, I just looked like I got completely ready for the day before I ate breakfast.

My group was going to Versailles, so I met up with the friend who baked the cake, who lives close by, and we went over to meet everyone else at 12:30. Versailles was beautiful, but I could not forget the implications of its wealth. The gardens were beautiful. It rained, so no one lingered. In Paris last night, the museums were free and open late. After eating some fantastic falafel, a friend and I went to the National Archives; long lines, but not boring. Many old bits of paper. Exhausted at this point, I had little interest in reading French, but we did make it a goal to find at least five references to people we recognized. Goal met, by the way.

I slept for twelve hours last night. Not sure what my host mom is thinking, after I woke up at 3:30 in the afternoon...

On Wednesday, I will be going to the south of France, to the Cannes Film Festival.