Just a little FYI

If you come to Paris, add to your "to do" list: Get hair cut by a gay french man. I guarantee, it is an experience that you will never forget. Think about a passionate artist dancing around in a fit of passion as he is painting what he thinks will be the masterpiece of his lifetime. And then you have an idea of the treatment I got today.

Well worth the hefty price tag.

This week was the rentrée for me at Nanterre.

On Monday, I had decided to try to take a second MICEFA class instead of going crazy trying to fill my schedule at Nanterre. I am taking a Franco-American relations class. It is pretty interesting, it seems to be examining American history from a French perspective, and how the history of the US has impacted the French. It’s going to be a lot of work I think, there is quite a bit of reading that goes with it. But I think I like it so far.

Tuesdays now suck. Officially (well not in France, I don’t have the paper stamped saying so yet).

I work in the morning, and then take the train out to Nanterre. I have a little bit of time to kill, so I eat at Nanterre. The super duper €2.75 meal. Then I have class for two hours. Tuesdays are the night I settled on doing babysitting. I have enough time to leave Nanterre, spend and hour at home, and then go back out to babysitting. But I decided that’s too much time wasted. So I just go to babysitting early, and do some reading or napping. The point I am trying to make is that I leave home at 7:15 in the morning, and don’t get back until 9 at night. Bleh.

The class at Nanterre is ok, but mostly on the boring side. It is difficult to describe the class, it is basically a History of Philosophies class… but the point of the class is to examine Medieval Philosophies and ideas to see how they led to today’s philosophies. Oh man, it is boring. And life in the middle ages doesn’t interest me.

After leaving Nanterre, I went to the Fnac. I love the Fnac. It is like Barnes and Nobles mixed with Best Buy, minus the appliances. I bought a couple of books, and got tickets for a show in March. And just walked around. It’s such a great store. I think it is my favorite here, hahaha.

I bought a book called A Year in the Merde (Merde is the French word for shit). It was written by a British guy who moved to Paris for a year, and it is a humorous account of his time here. I have been laughing my ass of reading the book, because I can relate to the book so much.

I didn’t have my MICEFA class in the morning, the teacher is on vacation. So I won’t have that class until March. I slept in a bit, and then met up with Sylvana at Nanterre. Another amazing cheap meal. Haha. And then I went to class. Ecrit 3. French grammar. Woo! The teacher is pretty nice, and I learned a few nuances of French grammar that I would have never been able to pick out otherwise.

Thursday is a true day off. No school, no work, only once in a while, I might have to babysit. So it is my day to shop, do laundry, etc. It’s so funny how life falls into a routine.

I managed to shrink my plastic shower curtain. I feel quite accomplished now. It was getting kind of icky, so I put it in a sink full of bleach and hot water. Nice and clean. And when I went to hang it back up, it was 3 inches shorter. I think I stared in amazement for like 5 minutes, pondering how the hell this could have happened. It is a plastic shower curtain, it isn’t supposed to shrink. And the problem is, every shower curtain I have found to try to replace it is too short. So bathroom floor has been getting a little wet lately.

Friday was work, and now, I am on (paid) vacation for two weeks! Yay!

Friday night, Sylvana and I decided to celebrate with a couple of beers in the Bastille. We met up with another MICEFA student, and celebrated vacations. (I have class Monday and Tuesday, but no work, so I feel like the school part is a minor inconvenience).

Saturday, I took it easy. I love weekends, and laziness. Saturday night, we met up with the Katies at the Canadian house at the Cite Universitaire for a party. This was where we stayed the first two weeks, so we were joking about where our rooms were and feigning nostalgia. The party started 9ish, and we were the only people there for almost an hour. We went to find Martin, the friend who was putting on the party (he was eating, he wasn’t even at the party…), told him we were going to leave, and he told us to stay for a little while. The beers were cheap, so we said ok. We were only going to pay more anywhere else.

More people showed up, and it ended up being fun. Sylvana was bored, so she left early, Katie red had left to catch the last metro, but Katie blonde and I stuck around. We figured we could catch the night bus home. We left around 4ish. Again, I am so happy for the night busses. I love them.

So now I am getting ready for my vacation. I am going to Italy for 10 days. I am so friggin stoked! It’s going to be so much fun. So you won’t be hearing from me for a couple of weeks, but I promise to come back with stories and tons of pictures.

So I am in a considerably better mood since the last time I wrote a blog.

My sickness broke Wednesday. Thank goodness. I still am not quite 100%... but much improved. I’m still trying to take it easy. I really need to be better, and hate hate hate being sick. I have never been as sick as I have been here. It really sucks.

And I’m still waiting on the internet. Who knows when it will be back?

But anyways, back to my better mood.

Wednesday was an awesome day. First, I woke up feeling not very sick. Yay!

I started the new school semester. My MICEFA class started. As I was getting ready for school, I looked out my window, and it was snowing! It was soooo cool. And I walked to class in the snow, which I have never done, but the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground. The fifth time I have seen it snow. People still think I’m crazy for being so amused by it. I even took pictures.

My MICEFA class is awesome. It is History of Paris, and Its Architecture (the one I got bumped out of last semester), Sweet. This is a class that is totally my style. The first session, she was telling all these little odds and ends facts about Paris. The kind of stuff that makes the geek inside me giggle. And that’s the way it seems the whole class is going to be. Awesome.

After class, I met with Sylvana, and we headed out to Nanterre to pick our classes. That was an interesting process. Since I decided that I am only going to get the minor in French, I only need one class to complete that, and could take it at Nanterre. More grammar! Woo hoo, you know I love it. (Too bad there isn’t a sarcastic font; it would have been all over that last sentence.)

But I thought maybe it would be cool to take a business class there, just to see what ideas and philosophies were being taught. Hahahaha, that whole process was a joke. The business department was the exact opposite of what you would call efficient. (I’ll just leave my ranting there. I could go on, but that might detract from my better mood.) I decided that it wasn’t worth it to try to take any business classes. The process of living here has taught me what I need to know I suppose.

So I decided to take a History of French Philosophy class. It’s a time-filler. But it could be interesting. We’ll see.

Thursday, I just took it easy. I went out to Nanterre to try to figure the business thing out, which led to my decision to not go through with it. But I still was feeling tired, and considering the doctor had given me an off work order through Friday, I figured it would be best to just hang out and take it easy. Friday was the same.

And so I finished my Stephen King book. It was good, but I guess I wanted more out of the ending… oh well.

On Saturday, I went to the Basilica of St. Denis. It is the final resting place of most of the Kings and Queens of France, going back all the way to Clovis, the first king of France. It was amazing. I am sort of surprised at the wonder and awe I feel about the whole celebration of death. I mean, how many cemeteries and crypts have I been to here? But I always feel in awe of witnessing the final resting places of people who have changed the world.

Sylvana and I decided to go get something to drink at Les Deux Magots. So expensive, but worth it. The second best hot chocolate I’ve ever had. Yes, I keep track. (The first best was at this little Bed and Breakfast that I stayed in two years ago in Galway, Ireland. Just in case you were wondering.) And talk about historical awe… but a lot of Paris is like that. I know I am going to miss that when I go home.

I mean, pick any place in Paris. If something didn’t happen there, then right around the corner something did. It’s crazy. And coming from a place where an historic building is 80 years old, it is mind boggling.

As I’ve been stuck sick in my apartment, cabin fever is setting in. I am now working on coming up with a new national motto for France. Ideas that have come to mind: “France, if it’s not one thing, it’s another.” “France, We’ll show you what Murphy’s Law is all about.” Or “France, Our Goal is High Blood Pressure.”

I spent the weekend in bed. Sleeping, watching South Park. And feeling miserable. Monday when I woke up, my internet wasn’t working. I have heard stories about people being without internet for a little while. So I just went back to sleep. But it didn’t work all day long.

I needed to go to the store to buy a few things, so I figured I would go to the France Telecom store while I was out. Of course, their customer service consists of pointing to a telephone and telling you to talk to someone else. There was a lady using the phone, so I just waited (as normal). After waiting like half an hour, (and being passed by employees) the lady told me that they had another phone. Upon hearing that, without me even asking, one of the ladies working at a sales desk pulled out the phone. (Insert annoyed forced smile here.)

So then, I call the customer service number, and I missed their closing time by five minutes. I might have uttered a couple of expletives as I walked out of the store. They probably couldn’t understand what I said, so it doesn’t count.

I had a follow up doctor’s appointment Tuesday morning. More on that below, don’t wanna interrupt the flow of my story. After the Doctor’s appointment, I went back to the France Telecom store. This time, I walked up to one of the employees, told him that I had no idea what to do in the voicemail hell that was France Telecom’s Customer Service, and that I needed him to help me (how very American of me). So he got where I needed to be, told me to sit on hold, and when someone came on, to get him. Now I was making some progress.

The problem wasn’t with the internet, it was with the phone company. While although technically the same company, they act as two separate companies (which is what caused the problem… read on). So, they gave me a number to call which connected directly to English speaking operators (so much easier!), and I could do this part all by myself, like a big girl.

When I got an operator, she told me the problem was non-payment. Non-payment? What? They took my bank account info when I signed up, weren’t they supposed to take money out of my bank account? And I know the money was there. And on my statements, it did show Orange taking money. But no, this was the phone line we’re talking about, and that was France Telecom (the same company, but really two… bleh).

She asked me if I had gotten the bills in the mail. No. She read off my address, and they were missing the part about having to have my landlord’s name in the address line. Funky postal things. And then she says, “Oh yeah, it says here that the bills were returned.”

So I was a non-payer, and they shut off my phone. Um, they could have called me and asked where their money is. It’s not like they don’t have my phone number…

Here’s the “if it’s not one thing, it’s another part.” I paid my bill there, and they turned my phone line back on. But no internet.

So after playing with the modem, resetting it, plugging it into different outlets, etc., I called France Telecom. This time, I could do it from home. Well, since the line was turned off, and then turned back on, I have to wait the standard 4-5 days for the internet to be activated. Awesome.

So it’s back to going around the city for internet. Woo hoo, just like old times.

Now to the doctor’s. I went in Tuesday morning for my follow up, I am still having problems with my throat. The fever is gone (thank goodness), but I still feel icky. He looks at my throat, and is like “Wow, that is still pretty infected.” No sugar coating with this guy. So it might not be strep, it could be viral. If Friday it is still bad, then I have to go have lab tests done.

Yay, more quality time stuck in my apartment. Now with no internet.

So I’m reading The Stand by Stephen King. Probably not the right book for someone who is sick to be reading.

Sometimes I stop and think, I am in Paris. And I get a little giddy. I mean, I am here. It’s amazing. Despite all the crap I have to go through, the crap is happening to me in Paris. I love it. I’m in Paris.

This week started off well enough. On Tuesday, I went over to Sylvana’s in the evening. We were trying to decide what we wanted to eat, and I have been craving fondue for a while. So we headed back over towards my area, and went to a fondue restaurant. The great thing about living in a touristy area is there is no shortage of good food places. It was, of course, heavenly. I decided that when I go back home, I am introducing my friends to the wonderful world of cheese fondue. Look out.

Wednesday was the beginning of the decline. My day started off with an email from MICEFA saying that some class times had changed. Now the Literature and Politics class that Professor Tomi is teaching has been moved to 11:00 on Mondays. Boooooooo! That means I can’t take it, I have work then. I was so looking forward to that class, and to taking Professor Tomi again. He was such an awesome teacher.

So I will be taking a History of Paris class. It’s apparently the class that the Architecture class turned into. So I am kind of excited about that.

So back to Wednesday. It was kind of a boring day. Patrick came over and borrowed my shower, his is broken right now. And then I went to do my laundry. After laundry, I came home, started dinner, and I felt a sore throat coming on. By the time I finished cooking dinner, I was on my ass. I felt so shitty.

Thursday was a little better. I had some stuff to take care of, and getting out of bed and walking around the city made me feel a little better. Sylvana rented Zoolander, so I went over to her place and we watched it. I can’t believe I had never watched that movie all the way through before. It was so funny. Bad I know, I’m in France, and I keep watching American movies. Get over it.

Friday, I got up, tried to go to work, and couldn’t make it through the day. I had to leave early, I was feeling all fevery and achy and my throat was killing me. I called MICEFA, and they recommended a doctor who isn’t too far from me that speaks English. So I went home, napped a little bit, and then went to see him. And the diagnosis: Strep Throat. Awesome. So he prescribed antibiotics and some stuff for the fever, and told me to spend the weekend in bed. And if I feel bad on Monday, he’ll write a doctors note for me to stay home.

So that means I missed Wilson’s party on Friday, and the bigger bummer, Dinseyland on Saturday. Sylvana and I had been planning on going for a few weeks now. And the weather was friggin gorgeous on Saturday (of course, I had arranged it a while ago…).

Now I get to figure everything out with the social security. They reimburse most of my medical expenses. But I just have to figure it out. Perhaps when I’m not so doped up.

So yeah, that’s my awesome week gone sucky. Better now than in two weeks.