Pas de Photos!

Today, I am short on photos. I will give you all of them, since there are only four! I got up at 6.30am. Yes, I actually did. I did this to get work done. See? The term "study" abroad is not a lie (although I will not deny that it may be a rationalization). This resulted in a particularly late (and sleepy!) breakfast, of considerable size. Again, sadly, without photos. What can I say? I spent breakfast studying the Playbook for team racing, so my hands were otherwise occupied. No space for cameras there! However, it was quite a delight, as are all my breakfasts.

I then went back to my desk, and, shockingly, did more work! It's the engineering. Computer science always knows how to gobble up your time. Finally, I decided to go with my friend to look for a winter coat at the soldes (incredible sales) at Monoprix. After all, I don't want her to freeze in the Haute Savoie!

I decided to walk there; it is much easier for me to focus on work after I have had a good walk. I was hoping to swing by the Grand Palais out of the way, perhaps check out the Haiti exposition, before meeting her at Opéra. This walk was the source of all my photos today.

See the (lack of) light? Clearly, it was a good day not to take pictures (rationalizations)

I found a bird. Or two. Or a whole flock.

Les Invalides is a stunning building, especially when approached from Boulevard des Invalides.

This is how they do renovations in Paris.

This is all I have to show for today. I reached the Champs Elysées and was absolutely confounded to realize that, after purchasing a membership to the Musée Jacquemart-André and tossing my wallet on top of my bag, I had never actually put it in. For the first time in living memory, I was without my wallet! Now, this is clearly a disaster. One must have money and identification with them at all time, especially in a city. Of course, this is a city where I have become extremely comfortable and I always keep a couple spare Euros floating around my person just in case, but I have been well-brought-up to be properly horrified in the case of a non-present wallet.

I had my Navigo pass for the Métro, since, naturally, I keep that separate from my wallet. However, despairing, work-laden, and fatigued, I fully intended to take the Métro straight home and tell my friend that there was no way I could join her without this most important of items. However, she said, if I wanted, she could shout me, and I realized I had no right to leaver her lying around at Opéra so I took the Ligne 8 instead of the 12 and, grudgingly, joined her.

Of course, there is nothing like a good walk and a good grumble in French to make the world a lovelier place, even if it starts raining, so she found her coat and all was well. Then, we actually returned to the Champs Elysées for the Gap soldes, because I had to obtain the softest scarf imaginable. I am now the proud possessor of said scarf, for ~€7 (down from €20). It is a fantastic scarf. Very much worth several extra Métro stops.

Then, finally, I did return home to reacquaint my pocket with my wallet and to, believe it or not, study! I had my first independent study french class, which was fantastic. After this course, I will surely be a vraie parisenne. And then, of course, I sat down to study. I emphasize this, of course, having heard many doubts and disbelief that I could be doing such a thing, given my many adventures. Unfortunately, somehow I have made it up to 18 units (I tried! I was at 14 originally! I don't know where they all came from!), and I am actually doing something productive here.

I also have made a friend. I met up with him at the Sèvres-Babylone station, and we went to see the Gary Winogrand exposition at the museum Jeu de Paume, which was fantastic. He is a computer science student and works at the Musée de l'Art Juif, and he found my knife in my bag when I entered (remember that?). Therefore, I profited from an hour and a half of pure french conversation and I have a friend. Operation Paris friend: success.

We had dinner early so I could make it to the Stanford Alumni in Paris cocktail party, and the dinner was a bit too delicious to fit with the tasty bites at the party afterwards. I had many slices of the same meat as last night, followed by a porc filet mignon with white carrot-things and poivrons, and the occasional potato, followed by some fantastic fromage and a very interesting and yet peculiar pudding thing made of crème de marrons. Then I fled for the party.

I med several interesting people, tasted one of each of the many and varied snacks and patisseries (including several flavors of macarons!), drank some champagne, messily consumed some flaky and delicious gullet à la reine, and then struggled home, burdened by two enormous boxes of leftover gallette for the train tomorrow.

Now? Time to go and…study.