Oh Paris, why must you test me? and Lloyd's visit!

Hey there everybody,
Sorry I’ve slacked a bit on the blogging, although honestly I didn’t have a whole lot to report last week, I’ve actually got a lot of school work (it was bound to happen…), so am not able to do the usual explorations. I did, however, just have a great weekend with Ryan (Lloyd), one of my best friends from Kenyon, who came from London to visit for a bit, yay! So yes, last week was kind of a stressful week, lots of me running around trying to find books to use for studying and a big paper, as well as trying to fix my Ipod (and failing…I am sending it home tomorrow as Paris does not have an Apple store here-apparently there is one being built, sigh). As for the internet, there is no progress, my host mom has officially given up on it, and I don’t want to move, so more nights at McDonalds for me…argh. Friday was really great, as Sweet Briar organized a trip to the Catacombes in the morning, super cool/creepy, and then afterwards a bunch of us went to this huge chocolate exhibit that was going on this weekend (the catocombes and chocolate, perfect for Halloween). Basically, it consisted of just a huge room filled with lots of booths/tables of chocolate producers, who gave out free samples and such, so great. After gorging ourselves on free samples, Kristin and I went to go try and find a movie theater by the train station, but after no success just ended up wandering around the area. We then went to the train station and met Lloyd, yay! It was really great to see him, although I admit it was kind of hard-so many memories of Kenyon that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with. After we met, we spent forever trying to get him a weekend pass, which took entirely too long as the automated machines are evil and only accept American credit cards about half the time, but we finally figured it out and headed out to find his hostel. Unfortunately, being Lloyd, he had managed to book a hostel in pretty much the sketchiest area of Paris-my good book says it’s known as the place to go for drugs…Lots of people trying to sell us packets of cigarettes, begging, and overall crowded scariness. Upon reaching the hostel, Kristin mentioned that her host mom was actually gone for the weekend, and that since she has an extra bed in her room she invited us to both just stay at her place for the weekend, perfection. So Ryan cancelled his reservation and we got out of there as quick as we could, stopping by Kristin’s house to drop off his stuff. Ryan and I then went out to dinner in the Bastille area, while Kristin ate the dinner her host mom made for her. We went to this really great Mexican place, getting a chance to catch up, it had been a while. Afterwards, we met up with Alex, Emily, Abby, and Jen at the Pub down the street we like to visit (happy hour til 11!), where we got a couple drinks and hung out for a bit before heading over to an Australian bar Alex had found, where you can play beer pong! Unfortunately, we only got in one game, as the place had only one table, but Lloyd and I were victorious, yesss. Then it was off to a café for a bit to chat, before me, Lloyd, and Kristin (who had met us at the beer pong place) decided to head out and catch the last metro home (the others decided they were going to pull there first late night in Paris and stay out til 5:30pm-when the metro starts running again. I don’t know yet if they acutally did, haha.) So off we went, catching the first metro no problem, and then waiting, waiting, and waiting at the next….And it didn’t come! Apparently we had just missed it, so we were far from home at 2am, and it was freezing and raining, ARGH. By this point, Lloyd and I were both really tired (he was going on two hours of sleep from the night before, and I was just exhausted from everything that week), but Kristin valiantly stepped up and figured out the night bus situation, which was my first time taking it. It was so miserable, so cold, so wet; we walked awhile to the station, getting lucky both times in that we only had to wait a bit when we got there, and finally made it back to her place a good 45 minutes later. We just were not having luck with transportation this weekend, Lloyd’s passes also gave us tons of trouble-the stupid machines rejected them the vast majority of the time. Fortunately, when we got back to Kristin’s place, she prepared some hot tea and a plate of cake that her host mom had told her to eat, and we watched an episode of the Colbert Report via her Wifi (lucky bitch ;). Overall then, it was okay, but such an ordeal.
Saturday started off pretty bad as well, with Kristin having a huge amount of trouble getting her Carte Navigo recharged (we have to do this each month to use the public transportation). After much difficulty, we did however make it to the Marais, where we visitied the Centre Pompidou, this huge, awesome modern art museum I had been meaning to check out for a while. It was very interesting, with the mix of really bizarre and incomprehensible art, as well as some of the better known artists such as Dali, Picasso, Matisse, etc. After exploring the museum for quite a while, we left and got some ice cream before heading to Saint Chappelle and the Conciergie. Unfortunately, by that time it was already around 5:30, so neither was open. However, it was a beautiful night in Paris, so we walked along the Seine, falling back in love with our oh-so-frustrating at times city. It was beautiful, so we walked around for quite a while, eventually meeting up with our friend Olivia and continuing up the Champs-Elysées. Then Ryan and I went off to find some dinner, and Kristin headed back to her place for hers. We went to the Latin Quarter and found a pretty cheap place with Panninis, yum. I even got a free cookie from the waiter . Then it was off to do more random wandering, which eventually took us to Shakespeare and Co, the famous English bookstore frequented by James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway, etc. I ended up getting a book by David Sedaris that I had been meaning to read for forever (“Me talk pretty one day”); I mainly bought it because he is actually coming to Paris on Thursday, which is super exciting! His books are just really clever and funny, I really hope to see him and maybe get a copy of his new book. Anyways, Ryan and I also explored a bit of Ile St. Louis, at the end stopping in a little café to split some Berthillon ice cream, which is supposed to be like the best ice cream ever….it was pretty damn good. By that time we were ready to head back to Kristin’s place, as Ryan needed to submit an application before midnight (he likes to procrastinate). After talking and hanging out a bit we took Ryan over to Bar Cristal, where we had a couple drinks and had a good time laughing at our adorable bar tender. We stayed there until it closed at 2, before heading back to Kristin’s house for some more Colbert Report and then sleep. Sunday, we got up earlier, and Ryan and I headed to check out Les Invalides, a short walk from Kristin’s place. It was very cool, another site I hadn’t seen yet in Paris, where Napoleon’s tomb is located. There was also a really interesting museum, a large part of which focused on WWI and WWII, very interesting. We then headed over to the Pantheon, so Ryan could see it, he was very excited to see Rousseau and Voltaire in particular. After that, we called up Kristin, who met us for lunch in Montmartre. We had some delicious Indian food, and then headed up the steps to the Sacre-Coeur, again one of my favorite places in Paris. After sitting and listening to a rather unfortunate rendition of “Wish You Were Here”, we went into the Church for a bit, and then walked out to look at the little shopping area where lots of painters display there work. Then it was time to start heading back a bit, so we walked down and through the Pigalle, so he could see the Moulin Rouge, before hopping on the metro and heading back to Kristin’s house to get our stuff. Then it was goodbye, as Ryan had to catch his train home, so I rode the metro most of the way before sending him on his way back to London. Like I said, it was really great to see him, and share this city and these people that I have come to love. Hopefully I will get to visit him in London next semester, and he can do the same. So yes, good weekend, although now I have to get back to thinking about all the work I have to get done in the next week, ick. Wish me luck!
Much love,
Brit