Falafel and Classes and Tupperware, oh my!

I woke up this morning early enough to hit up the marché edgar quinet before class. The marché is conveniently situated right by my school but is only open until 14h (2 pm) so I hadn't had the opportunity to go down there yet. I have to say, I was really impressed.

Not only were the typical fruit and veggy stands gorgeously displayed, but their produce was surprisingly reasonably priced. I found a vendor with apples for 1 EUR a kilo -- a very good deal! The closer you stay to Raspail, the cheaper (and the closer you get to la tour montparnasse, the more expensive it gets, generally).

The market also had many other gorgeous things on display -- I saw many butchers with whole rabbits and whole ducks on display. I know this may gross out some of the weak-of-stomach, but to me it was beautifully French in a way that I had yet to see in Paris up until this point. The seafood stands also had some exotic products on display -- I really thought that the rays looked gorgeous and I have to remind myself to try eating ray while in Paris.

The markets also have many clothing vendors, so you could really do all your shopping here. Various stands also prepare hot food. Massive pailla pans filled with seafood make the place smell amazing despite all the fresh camembert being sold. I found myself a lebanese stand and got a falafel for 3,50 (very reasonable). I got to chat with the man who runs the stand, too, and was pleased to find out he works a market on Thursdays at Bastille, which is much closer to my neighborhood.

Eating my falafel behind some of the stands at the Marché Edgar Quinet.

Trying to pose with the enormous falafel. "Hi mom!"

My falafel was AMAZING. Quite possibly the most delicious falafel I've ever had. And it was enormous. I couldn't even eat the apple I bought.

My classes went well today and I followed them up with a Tutorat with my professor for "La France Multiculturelle." We discussed what I would want to do for a final project and came up with this idea: I'm going to take advantage of living in such a multicultural quartier and conduct a series of interviews with people who live here or run businesses here (1 interview per week). I'm going to try to interview a different type of person (varying age, gender, ethnicity, etc...) every time and follow up each interview by compiling the information into a written "portrait" of that person. I'm also planning on tying this in with my photo class by taking visual portraits of those who I interview as well. Hopefully by the end of the year I'll have some nice memories and new friends. :)

I walked home and stopped at a store on St. Michel along the way. I love looking arround this store because it specializes in "fin de séries" (end of the series) items, thus there are some great things a very low prices. Sometimes there's lots of wine, other times, it's shoes, other times dishes. Today I found some tupperware with cute french writing and little drawings on it. I haven't been eating ice cream fast enough to satisfy my immediate tupperware needs, so I got a set of 2 for 1,50. I figured I can take them home with me after the trip as little soveniers.

I returned home to a satisfying glass of wine and a long list of homework to get started on. It's raining cats and dogs here, so that shouldn't be a problem!

Total Damages today:
1 falafel: 3,50 EUR
1 apple: 20 centimes
2 tupperware boxes: 1,50
1 bottle of faux-rangina: 55 centimes