"Day Off"

Ah morning. I wake up and walk down to Biatrix with Taylor, stopping by Franprix on the way home to pick up some tomatoes at an unbeatable price, 2 potatoes, and a bottle of orange juice. Baguette in hand, I am ready to start what was supposed to be my day off.

First, I went into school where I had a chat with the director of study abroad from CMC, one of my school's sister colleges. It made me realize how much I would love her job. In the past three weeks, this woman has been everywhere, trailing her poor husband behind her. God I'm jealous. I asked her what her background was, and she told me that after studying abroad in Paris, she joined the Peace Corps and taught English in Africa. I'm starting to think I should listen to my mother and at least look at the Peace Corps application...

After thinking about my dream job, I picked up a snack and headed to Philippe's photo studio to shoot my self portrait. It was a large and arduous struggle with the flash, the lighting, my make-up, the props, and the tripod, but I think I ended up with some decent photos. Floriane, my photoshop teacher and fashion guru, told me that she liked some of the shots -- that made me feel pretty acomplished.

After photo, I ran back to school where I had a meeting with my professor. After that, I ran upstairs to finish some reading before taking an RER to the cité universitaire where Natalie, our activities director, was cooking up some maccaroni. This dinner was a little like the first dinner I had at the cité -- it's supposed to be part socializing with French students, part language exchange (the French students are studying English, we study French). I was really lucky because the people I met and got along with last time were there again, and we got to talk a bit more. They are absolutely hilarious. One of the girls was talking about men who were hitting on her and said something that roughly translates to, "I think he only wanted two very specific parts of our bodies to be come friends that night." Another girl looks at her and sarcastically responds, "your hands?" I swear I rarely laugh so hard.

By the end of the night, we all caught the RER home together, exchanged emails, and exchanged the traditional kisses on the cheek ("on a fait la bise"). It's nice to know that there are some French students who I get along well with, and who feel comfortable enough with me to let me into their circle. Hopefully I'll get to know them a little better as time goes on.

Now I'm exhausted (what a "day off") and need to sleep, but alas there is more Balzac to attend to!

Total Damages today:
groceries (4 tomatoes, 2 large potatoes, 1 bottle orange juice): 1,72
1 baguette: 85 centimes
madeleines: 1,15