Dum dum dum.

Completely blogging for procrastination's sake right now.

Countdowns update:

2 days 14 hours to Helsinki

8 days to USA

18 days to Nathan

So days are going fast-ish? Not really, actually. Been sick for the past 3 days so those have all been kind of a blur. Been half-assing the little schoolwork I have largely because of this sickness and my overwhelming desire to be done, to go to Finland, and of course to go home.

Some things have happened since last post:

-Mozart Rock Opera with Heather: it was amazing! Very overdramatic in some cases, but the music was still very good and as a whole the show was entertaining. I would classify it as more of a musical than an opera, however, but neither of us minded that.

-Paris fail night with Jasmine, Heather, Christina, Pierce: we started off Saturday night strong at Cafe le Petit Pont (awesome cafe right by the Seine) where we had dinner, but unfortunately we couldn't really find a cool spot to hang out afterwards. Maybe we should have just stayed there? At one point we met up with Jasmine's French friend and basically all of his friends, but the club they tried to take us to wouldn't let us in because there were too many of us (think 20+). So then we went back to the area where we had originally been to go to a club with flashing lights and dancing (we all wanted to dance) called Cocktails and Dreams. More like Cocktails and Bust. The little dancing that was going on was by middle-aged French people who look like they're having seizures when they're dancing. We were amused for a short while by just watching the craziness of French dancing, but then decided we would rather leave than pay 15 euro for cocktails that came with no dreams attached.

-Been sick. Stomach, throat, runny nose. All of this exacerbated by the Paris Fail night. Ah, woe is me. Also, this all leading up to the only bit of actual work (aside from a few other tests and papers) I am doing while in Paris--3 final exams. Awesome. Well, two of them are tomorrow and the last one is Wednesday. It's bad to say this but I really don't care that much at this point, I just want to be done. So I will take them, and they will go somehow, and then I will be done.

-Host parents took us to see "Arthur et les Minimoys 2" last night at le Grand Rex theater that is near our apartment. The movie itself is a kids' movie, amusing but not in any way amazing. The theater, however, is the oldest and largest in France and very impressive. The most surprising part of it was that they had a 30-min long water show before the movie ... basically water fountains "dancing" to different songs, all made to the theme of the movie we were about to watch. It was definitely different to see that inside a movie theater, and we were both really appreciative that our host parents took the time to show it to us.

-Pretty much given up on the rest of the Paris to-do list. It's too damn cold outside.

There's something about the way the street looks when it's just rained

There's a glow off the pavement, you walk me to the car

And you know I want to ask you to dance right there

In the middle of the parking lot, yeah.

I don't know how it gets better than this,

You take my hand and drag me headfirst, fearless.

And I don't know why but with you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress, fearless.

One week left in Paris.

I can't believe I'm really down to the last week. The semester as a whole has flown by, but these last weeks have really been dragging because I've been so excited by the idea of going back home and back to WashU. Even though I have a ridiculous amount of things to cross off my to-do list in these next 7 days (including one paper, 3 finals, Anne's visit, a musical, a movie with my host family, and as much of my Paris to-dos as I can fit in), I know the days will continue to go by far too slowly. At the end of each day when I get to put a line through one of the boxes on my calendar, I know I'm one day closer to going to Finland and going home, both of which involve seeing people I love and being done with the semester. Don't get me wrong--on the whole, I've really enjoyed my semester in Paris. But right now, with end-of-semester work/exams, the cold weather, and Christmas coming up so soon, all I want is to be with the people I care about back home. And that just cannot happen soon enough...

I do have a life update, however. I spent Dec 4-Dec 7 in Barcelona, Spain with Jasmine, Heather, and Pierce and had a really great time. First of all, the weather was amazing...it was between 15 and 20 degrees C every day. =] There was a little bit of tension within the group having to do with differences in opinion about what we should do, what time to leave the hostel, etc, but once we got over that everything was wonderful. We saw some of the major attractions in the city (Las Ramblas, the beach, the pier, Park Guell, Gaudi architecture, Casa Batillo, Sagrada Familia, Place Catalunya), but we decided to mostly take it slow since we had 4 entire days to see everything. It was the perfect get-away from finals stress and chilly, rainy Paris. We drank sangria with every meal (except breakfast), ate tapas at least 5 times, and took loads of great pictures. I think we all needed that break, and I loved spending time with such a great group of girls. Traveling with people really allows you to grow closer to people, and I'm so thankful for that. I'm dreading the day that I'll have to say goodbye to the amazing people that I've met on this program. There are at least 5 people that I can say I now consider very close friends, and that's so special and amazing considering we only just met 3 months ago.

Countdown updates:

Helsinki in 7 days.

Atlanta in 13 days.

Christmas in 14 days.

Nathan comes over in 23 days.

This week needs to hurry up and get done with!

I think I'll go get McDo now (it's a blessing and a curse to have one literally right next to me).

Bisousssss

post-thanksgiving update.

it's december.

it's been a long time since i've posted.

nathan came to visit. it was wonderful. probably the best 4 days ever. (nov 12-16)

the family came for a week and sightsaw the shit out of paris. i had some work to do during the week but was able to spend some time with them anyway. ate turkey kabobs on nov 26, but it still didn't feel anything like real thanksgiving. (nov 21-28)

lots to do/see/finish/experience in the next few weeks.

can't believe christmas is coming up soon.

barcelona in 4 days.

helsinki in 17 days.

home in 23 days.

i'm ready to go home.