ah.

Tomorrow I move again for the 2nd time since I've been in France. Right now I'm living in a hotel across the street from a gay rave party club. I cannot way to move tomorrow. Raidd Bar..I hope you burn on account of all the sleepless nights you have caused me. Nothing against gays, but do you really have to shout at the top of your lungs at 2 in the am in your lispy français. Not only this, but I have been sleeping next to a stranger who I met last monday. We are both in similar positions with our homestays being on vacation until tomorrow, and are stuck in a room the size of a closet. Our beds are literally separated by 2 inches. He is a nice guy, but it is just too weird for me. I can't wait to have my own room again, and not have Raidd Bar booming it's 20 Madonna remix songs through the window and walls of my bedroom. A picture update is soon to come. I have grown a mustache and started wearing tighter pants to show off my baguette. Also I am known to walk around town in a white dress shirt(unbuttoned at the top to show off my hairy chest) and a fanny pack. I am truly immersed. I am going to Lyon this weekend, so once I get back I'm sure there will be another update. Entrance exam tomorrow! School starts next monday! Paris is a great city to have nothing important to do...there are plenty of parks and cafes and places to relax and waste the day reading, listening to music, or people watching; but I am really ready to have work and responsibilty. It's always times when you do nothing that you want work or school, and when you have either of those, you want to crawl into the deepest, darkest cave and leave every responsibilty behind. You begin blowing all of your money on records and worthless crap, and then when you are completely broke; worn out from staying out until 5 am and not sleeping ever; and just when you begin feeling like a depressed waste of human life for having such a lack of responsibilty....you say fuck it and begin the cycle all over again. Loiiiiffffee. It's 2:05 am Paris time. I have done my rambling for now... Despite this weird post....I am having a lot of fun here. I am meeting some really genuine and awesome people here. I barely know them, and I feel so welcomed. At the same time I miss a lot of people back home too. I don't want to write anymore....

goodnight.

Food Update

So lets first start off with an awesome story. Due to my living situation getting a little messed up with my homestay because of the family being on vacation, I am living in my current apartment until monday morning, which is when i get to live in a hotel until september 1st. after that, i get to move in with my new family. anyway...so yesterday the Senegalese cleaning crew came because they thought the apartment was vacant, and i guess had not been informed i am living here until monday. regardless, they had to do their job and clean the apartment. so after they were done they asked me if they could cook lunch in here, and i said yes...i didn't care. so they cooked a ton of food...and i'm thinking...jesus christ...why would 3 people be making a feast for only lunch(came to find out later that rammadan(sp?) started today and that is why they were eating so much. they finish cooking and the guy Issa comes in with a big ass plate of food, and asks me if i want to eat with them...he warned me that it was African food, so i probably wouldn't want it. It was delicious. It was rice with lamb, and some vegetables....tons of spices, spicy couscous with some other stuff in it. it was amazing. I couldn't thank them enough, and all Issa kept saying was "c'est comme on fait en Afrique." It ruled...asides from my meal at Chez Bebert..this was the best. Nice people, good conversation, great food. Afterwards we ate a bunch of fruit(grapes, bananas, and some orange things that i have never seen before). That afternoon ruled.

Now for some pictures...unfortunately i did not take pictures of the Senegalese meal...i thought that might have been weird if i started taking pictures of their food....but here are my current favorite snacks:

Bounty Chocolate Coconut Bars

Roasted Chicken flavor Chips

Un Croque Suédois au Saumon

first off...chez bebert, vous avez mon coeur.

second...les baguettes de Moisan. vous avez mon coeur aussi.

Life.

So everyday, between the hours of 5 and 7 in the morning, I am woken to the sound of people constructing a market outside my building. I cannot blame them since it is just their job to do so, and also I find it cool that there is huge open air market on my street everyday except monday, but god damn. I don't want to wake up at 5 am to the sound of wooden boxes getting thrown around in the street and french people screaming at the top of their lungs. Also, at the end of the day my street is filled with trash, rotting fruit and vegetables, bums picking through all of the rotten fruit, garbage men, and pigeons everywhere. Maybe I am giving the wrong impression of Paris here...but actually Paris is wonderful. I am just amazed by this awesome yet disgusting at the same time market.

Trash on my street:

Pigeon orgy:
Funny stuff:

The woman's best friend:
Man's Best Friend

Since I made paris seem so disgusting, I'll post pretty things now:

Jardin des Plantes:

Église Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Jardin du Luxembourg
There are many other beautiful parks and things to see...I don't want to paint the wrong picture here.

Yo! Quoi de Neuf!!?!?!?? Donnes-moi a BON-SOIR!!

So tonight was some what of an interesting night. I did might nightly walk around random bar filled neighborhoods by myself with the hope of bumping into someone I could possibly strike up a conversation with...as usual...no luck. It's kind of weird going from Atlanta, where I am probably never alone, and I am also hanging out with someone, to Paris where I know nobody and am finding it impossible to meet anyone. It makes me miss home, but regardless I am still having a good time. Anyway...I went to Saint Michel to walk around over there tonight and when I went past the fountain this was going on:

the paris breakdance scene!

Also, I quite possibly saw the most gut wrenching thing ever. When I was going home I walked into the Saint Michel metro station, and some drunk dude tripped and fell down a flight of stairs. When he hit the bottom, it was the worst sound I think I have ever heard. He was just laying in a pool of blood and vomit, and his friend was screaming. I have never really shielded my eyes from something before, but that really was just not cool. I really think that guy died...ughh...seriously one of the worst things I've ever seen. People really know how to get drunk in Paris.

On a better note! I also at this monster kebab wrap...nom!

Is this my world?

So after months of saying I was actually moving to France, I can finally say that I'm actually here. It is great here. At first it was somewhat overwhelming because people were speaking so fast I could barely understand anything they were saying. I was sort of pissed actually because I have taken French for so long that I thought that it would smooth sailing...oh well. I'm catching on as time goes by. I've been here for a week now, and I can already tell an improvement in my listening skills. Anyway, I feel stupid for saying all of that, so now I will just post pictures of where I live and stuff I've seen and done for the past week.

Oh and I guess click on the pictures to make them bigger....

L'As Du Fallafel....best ever

Les Catacombes



This is what I get from walking too much in new shoes.

alright...well photobucket is being stupid so i will post more tomorrow.