omg, this really hurts my butt, it's really hard

long story short, we went to the circus today, we met of montreal on the streets of paris, and we were caught in a metro station when tear gas was let loose. i'll write details and everything tomorrow. be prepared for a long and entertaining read...

cheers, jhabra

where are you guys???!!!

we had the opportunity to sleep in this morning, giving us time to rejuvenate ourselves and time to acclimate to the time change. i woke up around ten and had my first shower in our neato shower spaces. each shower is its own cubicle. we have to press this little button under the shower head continuously to get it to work, which was rather annoying at first. i just got the hang of it. the only other downside to the shower is the water temp isn't as hot as i would like it to be, but it's warm enough. a little later, drew and i went to a boulangerie down the street to grab some breakfast. i again had a pain au chocolat and a jus d'orange.

today was a special day because we had our placement exam. we thus spent the majority of the afternoon locked in our rooms reviewing. we arrived at the test center around 130, took a surprisingly hard exam, then travelled back to our dorms. nice and simple. after getting back, we ran into brendon who we invited to come along to grab some kebabs. there's this great place just down the street. it's not as good as the one on the rue de rosiers, but it would have to do for today.

next on the agenda was a guided tour of part of the louvre at what we thought was 630. first, brendon, drew, and i decided to have some fun is brendon's room. after a laughing fit and some ridiculous antics later, we decide it's time to leave at 615. we get the louvre around 635, but see nobody at the meeting spot. i decide to call melissa, one of our program guides. our conversation was the following:

Me: Hey, where are you guys???!!!

Her: I'm in the metro, where are you?

Me: Oh, you guys aren't here yet, okay good, we thought we were late.

Her: You're at the louvre? i already dropped everyone and left.

Me: Wait, what? doesn't the tour start at 630?

Her: Nooo, 615.

Me: Oh dammit.

yeah, so we missed it. we walked around part of the museum regardless, it's truly beautiful the art that lives there. some of the sculptures that are housed there blow my mind. it's not only the mere fact that the art is itself beautiful, but some of these pieces are gigantic. watching the art curators and workers get them into the museum is something that i would pay to see.

the tour was supposed to last until 745, so drew and i decided to wait until around 8 downstairs in hopes of running into our group. we had no such luck and just went home.

one hour later, a knock! everyone had come back to the dorms to hang out and drink for sam's 21st birthday. wine, liquor, cigarettes, meeting neighbors, and noise complaints, oh my! but now it's time for bed.

cheers, jhabra

i just blue myself

this morning we moved into our permanent residences at the cite. will had to wake up nice and early, hung over and all, around 630. my bed was on the floor, so he had to step over me to even do anything, so i was woken up nice an early anyways. i fell right back asleep though, so it was still a productive sleep. drew and i had to wake up at the same time. so i naturally woke up first, showered, and woke him up around 805. we had to be downstairs at 830. just as i shake him, our room phone rings. it was anne-marie, she was downstairs waiting for us...

backstory, there are protests in france, lots of them and they happen from time to time. over 1 million people were going to show up today according to the nytimes. traffic is awful, metros stop working, along with the RER and the bus lines; it just becomes a huge mess.

sooo, she told us to be ready around 830. but apparently, the roads weren't that bad in the morning, so we had to book it out of the room and fast to beat the crowds. two traffic jams and almost two of which we would have been part of later, we eventually arrived at our housing. our rooms are gigantic and in a very peaceful part of paris in the 14th arrondissement. it's a beautiful big white building, with textiles lining the floors. the entrance has the seal of the united states. the outside has a french and american flag flying in tandem. there's a Black man at the front who guards the desk. he's unbelievably friendly and helpful, yet he doesn't speak a word of english. i like that though, it's good practice.

after a quick exploration, a quick nap, drew and i just decided to chill. as i'm leaving my room, i hear panda bear coming from a computer down the hall. i stick my head in, and there's this tall guy name brendon who's been here since august studying. really nice kid. very indie and just cool. he, drew, robin and i talked until about 8, then we decided to go to dinner at a chinese place down the street. i had this four course meal for 8.90, it's a great deal.

on the walk home, we all realized we love arrested development. we quoted the entire show and laughed the whole way home. we unanimously agree that tobias and gob are the best characters.

we have our placement exam tomorrow, so i'm about to go to bed.

cheers, jhabra

le vingt-huit

after an awkward previous day and evening of should-i-talk or should-i-not antics, we have all already become very comfortable with each other. the morning was rough. we woke up pretty early because jet-lag is a grand ol' biznitch, but it did not ruin our day. drew and i got some breakfast at this quaint little boulangerie down the street from our citadine. it's right in front of this giant square with a fountain dans la rue des innocents. 

after some pain au chocolat we had to head to our api center for more orientation. anne-marie, our director, ran through the entirety of our orientation packet because let's face it, i was probably never going to read it anyway. it took forever, and all i wanted to do was fall back asleep. anne-marie brought us this almond paste pastry thing with little jesuses inside. the tradition in france remains the ones to find the miniatures must wear a crown on their head. i, unfortunately, did not win, which was somewhat disappointing because i like big, obvious, american bling. after some tea and a call from my uncle inviting me to my cousins wedding in two weeks (oh boy), we finally had some free time.

we all went back to the hotel to freshen up. gaby, kate, will, drew, and i met downstairs and decided we would walk to our next activity: a boat tour on the seine. i have done this many times before, but for some reason i was really excited for this time. the weather outside was mighty cold and cloudy, but that's paris in the spring. gaby was talking her mouth off, which broke many of the awkward silences. will was freezing his ass off. and drew was chilling with his giant nikon camera. we had a nice long walk to our meeting spot, the sculpture of henry IV. the most striking aspect was the shower of bird droppings it had accumulated on his head. that's what he gets for hunting them back in the day... karma's a biznitch too.

the boat tour was at dusk, just as the sparkling lights engulfed the eiffel tower. but it was so freaking cold that none of us could spend more than five minutes on the top level of the boat. so the majority was spent marveling at the apartments along the seine. i want to live there someday. 

after, drew, will, robin, and i broke off from the large group and went to dinner at this adorable restaurant. the new york times rated it five stars and gave it a one $. it was perfect. i ordered this penne and crab pasta thing. delicious. conversation and debauchery ensured, but i don't really remember about what. it seems like it could have been a seinfeld show.

later that night as drew, will, and i we lying in bed getting ready to fall asleep, gaby and a few girls knock on our door to go out. we quickly get dressed and attack an irish pub where there are russian mafia men and some bunch of scottish hooligans getting their drink on. we stayed there for a little bit only to see a man come out of the bathroom in a gorilla suit and a guy in a bunny suit passed out on a chair at the entrance to the pub. all in all a good night.

cheers, jhabra

made it

i'm in paris. it's beautiful. i really love this city. my flight over here was somewhat brutal. i sat next to this french woman who continuously insisted on crossing my lap to look out the window. i never really wanted to talk to her, but inevitably did. she was on vacation in the states with her husband. they tried to hit every major city, and ended up in miami for the everglades. she showed me all 300 of her pictures. after 8 grueling hours and poor sleep, i never caught her name.

after i landed, i had to meet my program leader at some terminal, which meant packing up all my shit and traversing the entirety of charles de gaule... t'was not fun. i ended up being the first one there and arguing with the woman about how cape cod is not the only island. as tedious as the conversation was, i enjoyed talking to someone about home. eventually more people showed up and we began talking.

one of the three guys on my program was the next to arrive. we have similar music interests, have played guitar forever, and have relatively long hair. so i have a new friend. his name is drew.

later we all passed out in the hotel for a little, then woke up, went to the most boring orientation presentation i have ever been to in my life, then had a group dinner. i sat next to this talkative french canadian, gabriele. she likes the habs, which doesn't sit well with me, but c'est la vie. there's also robin, a vivacious light skinned vegetarian who enjoys of montreal and ghost stories. she's really cool.

i'm about to go meet my uncle for a drink.

cheers, jhabra