Tu me manques, Paris

Hey all,

I'm a bit en retard due to a lack of Internet chez moi, but voici the last entry of Paris, que je t'aime. I'm writing this from Detroit, and while I'm very happy to be home and able to spend time with my family and friends, I miss the city of lights, all of the adventures I had there, and all of the wonderful new and not-as-new friends with whom I shared them.

For our final week, class was moved from 11h to 13h. This resulted in staying up (and out) two hours later. After Monday's class, with the half hour we had before our rendezvous with the class, Beza and I rushed to St. Michel for sandwichs grecs: by far the best lunch choice available. We made the round trip in about 35 minutes, and after waiting for the folks that were later than we were, the class headed off to la Grande Mosquée de Paris.

Upon arriving, the “less modest” women among us were given coverings for their legs, and we began our tour. The mosque was ornately decorated with middle eastern designs, and there was a beautiful garden in the center. We weren't allowed to enter the men's prayer room, but we entered the women's, as well as the library. Afterward, we went to the adjacent cafe for traditional thé au menthe and middle eastern pastries. Hot tea on a scorching day isn't usually the best of ideas, but it was good.

After leaving the cafe, I headed home, wasted time, called my family, and ate dinner. I might have also done some homework, but I doubt it; I did very little homework this last week. In any case, at some point that night, I found myself on pont des arts with mes amis. After hanging out there for a while, we made our way to the bar that is home to “Où est l'artiste” each Monday. Though I didn't get any of the artistes, it was a night full of singing, dancing, and annoying people with balloons (annoying is not used as an adjective).

After the bar closed, I tried to find a friend's lost phone and indirectly (but sincerely) threatened a guy in his thirties before arriving at the bus stop to await the night bus to take us in the direction of home. There we found a guy playing guitar, surrounded by a group of Francais. The next hour was spent singing along to American hits played on the guitar. We missed three consecutive buses, each time because someone decided to block everyone from getting on because we weren't done singing. It was one of the most fun hours I spent in Paris.

The next day, after class, David, Min, and I went to la Défense, which is the financial district of Paris. Technically outside the city, one finds there huge buildings, lots of people, a big statue of a thumb, and la Grande Arche, the purpose of which, as far as I could tell, is to be a landmark and a hangout spot for young Francais. After wandering a bit, taking some pictures, talking to some rude Francais, and exploring the mall, we headed home.

Later that soir, we rendezvous'd near Palais Royal to see les Oiseaux at la Comedie Francaise. Les Oiseaux (The Birds) is an ancient Greek play, and the version we saw had been updated to satirize modern French politics. I don't know if it was because I was tired, or because of the microphones, or for some other reason, but the show was utterly incomprehensible. It was a painful hundred or so minutes.

Afterward, I attempted to gather a bunch of people to go see a movie. I wanted to profiter de la fete du cinema at least once. People weren't very interested, so Esete and I went by ourselves. We rushed to les Halles for the 22h30 showing of Fatal. Fatal is an over-the-top French comedy about a white guy in his thirties or forties, Fatal Bazooka, who is a superstar “rappeur gangsta et bling-bling”. His world comes crumbling down when the newest electronica-pop musician takes over his number-one spot, and his biggest fan, who he mistreats, reveals the secrets of his past. It was a bit too long, but entertaining, mostly because it was funny to see such a story in French.

Wednesday, after class, Beza, Esete, and I went to Disneyland! The copain of the daughter of ma mere d'acceuil works at a restaurant in Disney Village, and he got the three of us into one of the two parks for free! Because of timing issues, we were only there for two hours, but it was a perfect amount of time. There are four big rides in each of the two parks, and one of the four in the park we chose was closed for renovations. Two hours turned out to be the perfect amount of time to ride the Rock'n'Roller Coaster, the hotel tower from la 4eme dimension, and Crush's Coaster from le Monde de Nemo. It was especially exciting because it was Esete's first time at an amusement park.

Later that soir, Beza came chez moi for dinner, because ma mere d'acceuil had been complaining that she'd never accepted her invitation. During the course of the dinner, Beza mentioned to her that I tell le monde that she's the best mere d'acceuil, and it totally went to her head. At least three times in the next few days she started a sentence with something like “Since I'm the best mere d'acceuil...”.

Thursday was 1 juillet, and sadly, our Navigo pass for the month of juin stopped working. This meant that each metro ride was 1,70, which can add up after a while. To save a bit d'argent, most people bought a ten-pack for 12 euros, but still, one had to think carefully before deciding to take a ride. That afternoon, we went to the mall at les Halles to check out les soldes (sales). In France there are designated times when stores are allowed to have sales, and July is one of those times. So the mall was pretty wild. Afterward, David and I stopped chez moi to get some water, and I introduced him to ma mere d'acceuil. She found him “très rigolo”.

I didn't have much of an appetite at dinner because of the heat, but my mere d'acceuil swore it was either because I was sad or in love. As a result, she demanded that I “m'éclater”, or “amuse myself well” as she explained the verb, with my last days in Paris. Anyway, we met up for our final soirée on pont des arts, and from there headed to an international student party at la tour Montparnasse. Despite some unfortunate crime, everyone had a fantastic time. We stayed until about 4h45, and hung out at the bus stop until the metro started running again at 5h30ish.

Having gotten home at about 6h Friday morning, I slept until 15hish. I spent the afternoon packing my bags, and rendezvous'd at Palais Royal for the dinner d'adieux with the class. After a glass of champagne, for my entrée, I ordered six huitres (oysters) and ate one of them. For my plat, I had canard (duck) avec des pommes de terre, avec du vin blanc. For my dessert, avec du vin rouge because I didn't want to miss out on the vin, I had a tart tatin, which was some sort of apple tart served with a stick of cinnamon.

I departed with Esete before the café was served, and we went chez elle so I could help her pack and carry her bags to gare du nord for her midnight train to Charles de Gaulle. All was well and she stopped at an ATM to withdraw some cash for the trip home. After inserting her card, entering her PIN, and requesting her cash, the ATM said “Don't forget your ATM card.” Waiting for the bills to come out, after about thirty seconds the machine ate the card, telling her that the card had been taken for security purposes. Apparently, by “don't forget your card” the machine meant “take your card now, and then take your cash.” In French, that's exactly what it said. Thanks a lot, guy who translated zat into English.

So what was originally planned to be a night spent partying until the sun rose, became a night spent helping Esete get to the airport. We called Beza for moral (and later, practical) support and set off to get Esete some cash, tell Bank of America to cancel the card, and get her on a taxi to CDG for her flight at 7h. It was an adventure-filled, sleepless night quand meme, and just after 3h we found a taxi driver willing to take her to the airport for 55ish euros.

I wasted the rest of that night facebook chatting and uploading pictures, since no one wanted to go walking the streets of Paris with me (I had no phone credit after calling Banque Nationale de Paris, so I didn't actually ask many people). The next morning, ma mere d'accueil served me hot chocolate with croissants and pains au chocolate, we said our goodbyes, and I made my way to CDG for my ten-hour flight to Dallas.

What an incredible experience. Au revoir, Paris.