Starting off the day right with Starbucks
MMmmmMMmmmmmm....
Greg loves me!
'On the street where I live...'
The other birthday boy!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Saturday, December 8, 2007
NO MORE ROMANCE PLEASE!!!!
I have some news for you.... I finally had a full on
date.....and.....I had a kiss on a bridge in Paris!!!!! ----- my
reason to be thankful I guess.
Ok, so here is the story: So have you heard about the metro strikes in
Paris? Because there is one, and it is one of the worst they have had
in years apparently. So in true Parisian form they revolt and have a
parade. On Thanksgiving day I was walking through one of the main
gardens/parks in Paris after reading a book I picked up that afternoon
on French wit and wisdom. And all gardens in Paris have gates and
because there was a huge protest parade for the strike going on they
closed and locked all the gates that went along side of the street
that the parade was going on. So basically I was locked inside this
amazing garden-no major complaints.
I spent about 20 minutes trying to find an open gate because at this
point I was running late for Thanksgiving at my profs house where 15
people were waiting for me and laughing at my phone call that I was
locked in a garden. I ended up being one of many people, as well as
this guy who were all trying to find another gate.
Let me paint the picture: Walking near and at times alongside of me
was a gentleman....taller then me, wide shoulders, with a brown and
cream haring-bone coat with great button details, jeans, nice causal
black leather shoes and a cream scarf tied the Italian way and a black
leather bag for his computer. Gentle brown eyes, chestnut brown hair
and a 2-3 day scruffy bread that was still trimmed.....(HOT). At this
point I his appearance sold me 100%
And can I just add that I looked dreadful.......I took a nap in my
makeup applied about 8 hours earlier......so some mascara
marks.....and greasy hair....the works. God knows why he picked me.
Sooooo.... eye contact lead to smiles.......to more eye contact and
checking one another out......to a pickup line (in French)....which I
had no idea how to answer........All in all we ended up talking, then
sitting down on a park bench and continuing the flirting. He asked me
out and of coarse desperate me said YES!!!
So, we had a date the following evening. He took me to this great
place! It was a small intimate bar and he wanted to go to the
basement which was this low barrel vaulted ceiling and completely lit
by candles. There I learned that he is a 27 year old student working
on his PHD in European history. He is not native Parisian, he is from
Kosovo. He speaks 3 languages fluently and understands and can make
attempts to speak in 4 others. His family wanted him to go into Medicine but he choose
otherwise and got his undergrad in French literature......from which
he certainly picked up a few things in how to treat a lady. He is
seriously a great catch. All I can say is that I had an
epiphany..........I can't do romance!!!!!
I always thought I wanted super romantic guy. One that reads my
Tynesson by the fire. But it seems that I can't.
I laughed so many times because there were too many of those:
"Frances, you have beautiful eyes...I wish I could swim inside them"
moments from 'Under the Tuscan Sun.' For example: he talked about the
structure of my hands and how beautiful they were and then requested
to hold them. Oh, or my favorite.....'your lips are like a drug, an
easy addiction.' My reaction was the same as yours: WHAT?!?!?!?! I
was wondering if he had a Hollywood screenwriter in his ear or
something. Where do they bread these guys??????? I couldn't hold it
in. I laughed sooooo many times, he was so confused. Then I had to
explain to him that American guys are not poetic and romantic like
this. He was shocked. It was just too much. BUT of coarse I ate it
all up because it is Europe and I was on a date with a not to shabby,
if I may, guy in Paris.
Oh....and he freaking sings and writes poetry. Seriously, I couldn't
take it. I just can't do it!
At the end of our date he was very egger to see me the next day for
dinner, but I told him that I have sooo much to do with school. I
really do have 3 projects this week which I stated very early on in
the date...so he knows it was not an excuse. He said he understood
completely, as a student with his work load as well. And in theory I
only have 3 weeks left here. And a whirlwind romance is probably not
a good idea right now. And then my sister comes for the holiday for
16 days.....so it is really not feasible.
All I can say is that I got to practice my French....kissing that is. HAHA
But hey, I guess you can be proud of me that I have matured and
realized that fairly tale romances are rediculous.
date.....and.....I had a kiss on a bridge in Paris!!!!! ----- my
reason to be thankful I guess.
Ok, so here is the story: So have you heard about the metro strikes in
Paris? Because there is one, and it is one of the worst they have had
in years apparently. So in true Parisian form they revolt and have a
parade. On Thanksgiving day I was walking through one of the main
gardens/parks in Paris after reading a book I picked up that afternoon
on French wit and wisdom. And all gardens in Paris have gates and
because there was a huge protest parade for the strike going on they
closed and locked all the gates that went along side of the street
that the parade was going on. So basically I was locked inside this
amazing garden-no major complaints.
I spent about 20 minutes trying to find an open gate because at this
point I was running late for Thanksgiving at my profs house where 15
people were waiting for me and laughing at my phone call that I was
locked in a garden. I ended up being one of many people, as well as
this guy who were all trying to find another gate.
Let me paint the picture: Walking near and at times alongside of me
was a gentleman....taller then me, wide shoulders, with a brown and
cream haring-bone coat with great button details, jeans, nice causal
black leather shoes and a cream scarf tied the Italian way and a black
leather bag for his computer. Gentle brown eyes, chestnut brown hair
and a 2-3 day scruffy bread that was still trimmed.....(HOT). At this
point I his appearance sold me 100%
And can I just add that I looked dreadful.......I took a nap in my
makeup applied about 8 hours earlier......so some mascara
marks.....and greasy hair....the works. God knows why he picked me.
Sooooo.... eye contact lead to smiles.......to more eye contact and
checking one another out......to a pickup line (in French)....which I
had no idea how to answer........All in all we ended up talking, then
sitting down on a park bench and continuing the flirting. He asked me
out and of coarse desperate me said YES!!!
So, we had a date the following evening. He took me to this great
place! It was a small intimate bar and he wanted to go to the
basement which was this low barrel vaulted ceiling and completely lit
by candles. There I learned that he is a 27 year old student working
on his PHD in European history. He is not native Parisian, he is from
Kosovo. He speaks 3 languages fluently and understands and can make
attempts to speak in 4 others. His family wanted him to go into Medicine but he choose
otherwise and got his undergrad in French literature......from which
he certainly picked up a few things in how to treat a lady. He is
seriously a great catch. All I can say is that I had an
epiphany..........I can't do romance!!!!!
I always thought I wanted super romantic guy. One that reads my
Tynesson by the fire. But it seems that I can't.
I laughed so many times because there were too many of those:
"Frances, you have beautiful eyes...I wish I could swim inside them"
moments from 'Under the Tuscan Sun.' For example: he talked about the
structure of my hands and how beautiful they were and then requested
to hold them. Oh, or my favorite.....'your lips are like a drug, an
easy addiction.' My reaction was the same as yours: WHAT?!?!?!?! I
was wondering if he had a Hollywood screenwriter in his ear or
something. Where do they bread these guys??????? I couldn't hold it
in. I laughed sooooo many times, he was so confused. Then I had to
explain to him that American guys are not poetic and romantic like
this. He was shocked. It was just too much. BUT of coarse I ate it
all up because it is Europe and I was on a date with a not to shabby,
if I may, guy in Paris.
Oh....and he freaking sings and writes poetry. Seriously, I couldn't
take it. I just can't do it!
At the end of our date he was very egger to see me the next day for
dinner, but I told him that I have sooo much to do with school. I
really do have 3 projects this week which I stated very early on in
the date...so he knows it was not an excuse. He said he understood
completely, as a student with his work load as well. And in theory I
only have 3 weeks left here. And a whirlwind romance is probably not
a good idea right now. And then my sister comes for the holiday for
16 days.....so it is really not feasible.
All I can say is that I got to practice my French....kissing that is. HAHA
But hey, I guess you can be proud of me that I have matured and
realized that fairly tale romances are rediculous.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
It came in (one) 'piece'........my experience at a Parisian Post Office
Well this morning I had a letter in my mail box (in French) from the
post office....I saw the word 'object' which led me to believe I had a
package!
(exciting)
SO....after standing in line for twenty minutes and not moving more
then a foot I left only to return two and a half hours later to only
stand back in a similar area. With baguette in hand and frozen foods
defrosting in my bag I toughed up for another half and hour to get up
to the clerk at the desk.
So the clerk goes behind the desk and about five plus minutes later
she arrives with a disheveled box that looks like it has been around
more of the world then I have. Literally...the corners on this box
are non-existent at this point. So she places this item that was once
a box on the counter in front of me and pulls out a paper for me to
sign. BUT THEN she gives me some whole speel (spelling) in French
which I understand mainly....ah....NOTHING......I tell her I do not
understand and she decides to try to make things easier for me to
understand by redoing the whole talk in basic French...Do I
understand?....um...nope.
All in all after the third talk I understand that I have to go open
the package and decided if I want to keep it or not, and claim if
anything is broken. At this point I am thinking to myself, "Lady I
don't really give a damn if anything is broken, I just want to get out
of here so all the French people in line behind me stop staring at my
demented box and the silly girl that can't speak French." So I walk
around the corner and I go and pretend to open the item, claim that
the items inside are chocolate and sign my name next to what I think
says "accept" in French. So I turn around and start to
think...."Blast! Do I have to get back into that darn line?!?!?!"
Thankfully I didn't.....BUT then she starts asking me more in
French.....what the heck....I signed your darn papers!!!!! She was
asking me if anything was broken.....which took her about 45 seconds
of me giving her a confused look in lack of comprehension to tell me
in English what she was saying. So I learned the French word "broken"
(which of coarse I forget right now).
I scurry on home to actually open the item and find a parcel full of
Halloween candy (pumpkin candy corn....yum) that cost my parents $36
to send to arrive two weeks late, cost me my nerve for the day and to
teach me a new word in French which I don't remember
So that is my crazy experience at the French post office.
Vienna!
So I went to Switzerland last year with my class...they decided to go again on the same trip to study...so I got go off on my own to the place(s) of my choice...so Vienna and Prague, here I come!
At this point living in Paris I am so tired of croissants, baguettes and Bordeaux that all I crave is BEER and WIENER SCHNITZEL!!!!
At this point living in Paris I am so tired of croissants, baguettes and Bordeaux that all I crave is BEER and WIENER SCHNITZEL!!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
