I met a bunch of my friends and we had drinks in the 5th, at a bar called the Mayflower. The main beers I've had when I'm out (which are always the cheapest) are Stella Artois and Carlsberg. I've also had Leffe, a Belgian beer that is pretty good. Beer is not cheap here: Usually 5 euro for a pint. Anyways, we were at this bar and the French men at the table next to us were clearly making fun of some of the people I was with. Some of the people on my program aren't really into the whole "adapting to another culture" thing and they speak really loudly and obnoxiously, with huge American accents, and say things that they think the French won't understand (but they do). So these guys were clearly making fun of some of the girls I was with, which was just getting the girls more angry and making them speak louder. I was trying to understand what they were saying, and I couldn't make out much because they were talking to each other, but they were making fun of a red head girl I was with.
Eventually we started talking to the French men sitting next to us. They were a little creepy towards the girls, as is usual. Any time French men see a blond girl at a bar, they touch her hair...it's weird. But I got to practice my French and try to figure out what they were making fun of us about. The pretty much told me that they like when Americans try to speak French and they shouldn't be so loud in public...that is not the French way. In the cab on the way home (the metro was closed after 12:30), the taxi driver took us in a circle...I think trying to rip us off. They also really dont' like when there is more than one stop in a taxi, which of course we had.
Thursday:
I woke up and decided I needed to buy some French cologne before the end of the sales. There is a huge mall a 10 minute walk from my apartment so I ventured to the centre commerciale. It's called Italie 2, and it's a Place d'Italie, a huge roundabout in the 13th. There were a ton of stores and it was a lot like an American mall. I browsed through a bunch of places, just checking out clothes and stuff, getting a feel for prices, etc. Clothes are really expensive here. I guess they buy less clothes and taxes are 20% on the purchases. I went into Printemps, a big department store. I was looking through the colognes, using the tester sticks, I really had no idea what I was doing. Someone asked me if I needed help but I said "non", because I didn't want to expose my lack of French skills / my lack of cologne knowledge. I ended up buying something that I recognized because I did a report on the French Perfume industry for my Business French class last semester. It's called A*Men by Thierry Mugler...I've gotten thumbs ups so far.
I went back to the apartment and met up with a friend to go to the Eiffel Tower. It was nice and sunny that day so we thought it'd be a good time to get to the top. I took the Metro there...the stop for the Eiffel Tower is on my line. While I waited for my friend, I bought my first crepe in Paris! Chocolate and banana...delicious. The Eiffle Tower is enormous! Everything in Paris is grandiose and ornate but nothing is really tall, except the Eiffel Tower. My friend Steve and I (he goes to Berkley), climbed to the 2nd level, which is as high as they let you walk. We then had to pay another fee to get on the elevator to the top. It was really worth it because the view at each level is completely different. At the 2nd level, Sacre Coeur was gorgeous and stuck out as a huge monument in Paris. At the very top, we couldn't even see Sacre Coeur beacuse it was just a little blip in the view. It was a great visit. I had dinner at the apartment that night, just made a little sandwich with turkey, mustard and a baguette.
Later that night, I met a kid from Michigan for drinks. He is spending the year in Paris and has been here since September. We met at the Bastille, in front of the Opera. The Bastille is a really cool area with a ton of bars. We went to this place that you have to ring a doorbell and the bartender looks and decides whether or not to let you in. Of course, they let us in. I guess they really hate when hoardes of tourists come in and take over the bar so they keep it controlled. He just told me about Paris so far and learning French, ect. The couple at the table next to us was just making out the entire time...it was so corny. I don't know why the French love PDA so much...but they are always making out on random street corners and going to bars to just make out.
We were going to another bar when we ran into a bunch of people from my program (it's a small world, even in Paris). We all went to some place that had bras and ammunition hanging from the ceilings. The bartender was excited to get a huge group of Americans so he gave us some free drinks. We all hung out there for a while and then went home. It was good to see someone from Michigan and I had a fun night.
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