My Birthday

Ahh so much I need to say! I don’t know where to begin, but I won’t start chronologically and start with today.

So last night, I decided I should go visit Paige today to see her house (rather chateau) and her town because she always talks about it and how lovely it is. She lives in the western part of Paris in Zone 4, so getting there was a trek! It took almost 2.5 hours from leaving my house to enter hers, but it was worth it. She lives in a quaint town (very rich), so the houses were gorgeous. There were lawns and trees everywhere, so it really looked like a college campus in a way. Anyway, Paige met me at her RER stop, and we walked to her house together.

One cool fact is that her house was the house that the Real World Paris cast lived in! I love that show (never saw Paris though), so it is really cool to me. Idk why they chose that house though and not one in Paris. Anyway, her house was absolutely great and very pretty. We made some coffee and prepared lunch in the kitchen (bread, cheese, turkey, and watermelon) and headed upstairs to avoid the kids coming home for lunch, which turned out to be a good idea because the eldest girl did not sound happy at all today.

The house is like 3 floors, and then Paige lives on the 4^th floor, or the Tower, so she has a lot of space! A bedroom, office room, and bathroom. I loved it a lot, and was envious of her shoe closest! After the tour, we sat in the play/TV room eating lunch and chatting. It was really nice! But soon enough I had to leave like 1.5 hours later, so I could make my train back. It wasn’t so bad though because Paige accompanied me all the way to my station, which I appreciated a lot. We said our goodbyes, and I took my train home.

I am happy I visited her today. It was great seeing where she lives and a little bit into her day to life. Every au pair is different, and it is interesting to compare. I hope she can check out my village and house on day!

When I got home, among other things, I got my butt outside and ran for 20 minutes. It was a short run, but that’s all the spare time I had before the beginning of driving the kids around. Pick up girl, drop her off at dance then immediately pick up boy, take him to tennis, pick up girl, then pick up boy all while preparing dinner (roasted chicken and potatoes). I think dinner turned out pretty well—still going solo, and balancing driving/cooking went well too.

Then I had a nice conversation with the mom about life. We discussed my plans for after my au pair experience (school vs. jobs and how to stay in France), what her family will do without an au pair next year (yes, I am the last. They have had au pairs for seven years!), her wanting to sell the house to be closer to school for the kids, me learning French, just a lot of things. It was nice to have an in-depth conversation; she really is a nice person.

Now rewind to Friday. I ended up having lunch with Nico in the la Défense area. We went to an Italian restaurant, and I had a yummy pizza! Although the experience eating was annoying because we had to be civilized and use forks/knives, and they didn’t cut the pizza for me. France for you.

Then I just headed home because I had nothing else to do. I don’t really remember after… but I know I picked up the kids and prepared ratatouille, which smelled so good! The mom got home early enough to make the 7:30pm train as opposed to the 8:30pm, so I got to peace out and start my birthday weekend sooner than I thought!

I made last minute plans to go to Jérôme’s apartment and hang out with Vincent until Jérôme got off work. I made dinner again (I didn’t even get to enjoy the ratatouille!) and boiled some pre-made tortellini; one of my favorite easy meals. So glad they have this in France. Jérôme got home in good time and we ate and hung out a little before going to a SKEMA party! A lot of my SKEMA peeps from Raleigh were there, so it was great seeing people I hadn’t seen for months and catching up with them. There were also a lot of people I didn’t know, but I met a few of them; although, I probably will never see him again, but that is how parties work usually anyway.

I think we got home around 2am and went straight to bed, and the next morning I was awake early for the boys to go to work. I just chilled at the apartment for a while and showered (didn’t go back to asleep surprisingly). I was waiting for Nico to text me, so we could start our day but eventually got bored and headed to the Chatelet area to go shopping. Btw, this was my birthday—little tidbit there.

I went back to this cute/cheap store I had found earlier in the week and ended up buying a warm, gray jacket that I had eyed before. I then bought an impulse buy, which was a nice black and white dress that I look pretty damn good in! I haven’t shopped in a while, so it was nice. It was my birthday anyway!

When I was walking around the area shopping, there were some guys with clipboards—these people are all over Paris, and they hound you to sign their papers. I have been told they are pickpockets, so I just steer clear of them. But two OBNOXIOUS guys would not leave me alone, and they came up on either side of me and made me into a sandwich basically saying “speak English.” But they pressed hard, and it felt like harassment!  They walked with me like 30 feet before I could break away. I wanted to just cuss them out but didn’t open my mouth, so they wouldn’t know I was American. Another one came later on, and I just shoved him with my hand and got out of the area.

Nico texted me by then, so I went to his place. I met his sister, who doesn’t speak English, so I chatted with her a bit, and then Nico made me ouef à la coque, sooo yummy. Oh I forgot to mention, at lunch with him the day before, he gave me a bday present! With oeuf à la coque (remember soft boiled eggs you dip bread in), you need holders for the eggs to hold them upright. So he got me 2 holders, which were all modern and cool looking and then an apparatus to cut the top part of the shell off for you, as opposed to cutting it yourself. You put the egg in the holder, and then put the apparatus on top of the egg, and slide this round sharp edge up, and with a spring, you let it drop down, and it cuts the eggs shell for you. Hope that’s understandable. I will try to post pics later to explain better.

So anyway, we got to use these presents because I specifically brought them with me. Afterwards, we headed to la Géode. We were late to meet Paige, but she was too, so it all worked out. The museum actually wasn’t that great—kinda outdated. Oh well. We went to an exhibit all about light and optical illusion stuff, which was cool. All the explanations were in French, so it made it challenging to figure out how to play the “light games.” We then saw a space documentary inside La Géode… again in French, so I didn’t get much out of it. La Géode was impressive though! So it was worth it in the end, and I am glad I went to just check it off my list of things to do in Paris.

We headed to Jérôme’s apartment after, and Paige got to meet Jérôme finally. We hung out until the La Défense light show, but we left way late and arrived just after it finished. It took forever to go to La Défense, so I was pissed we missed it and had to make the trek back into the city. It was just a big waste of time. So I reverted back to Plan A—go to the Eiffel Tower when it glitters. So we did. Sat in front of the tower with a bottle of champagne. Great times! Loved seeing the tower light up. I want to go up it soon! Apparently the first tier is free too! But it always has long lines.

We then headed to the Moulin Rouge area and hit up a bar called O’Sullivans. Somehow, Jérôme and I got in for free (15 euro cover charge) because we unknowingly slid into line with like a British wedding party group or something. I was just trying to get inside, but we got in fo free! Good bday luck I suppose. Nico and Paige weren’t so lucky unfortunately. The bar was cool! It was a lot bigger than it looked and had a dance floor with good music, so we just had drinks and danced the whole night. It kinda reminded me of a bar that I LOVE in Raleigh called Rum Runners because I always went there with the French students and hung out on the dance floor. I think we took a taxi around 3am, but we didn’t go to sleep until like 5am. Idk what we were doing, but we went to bed sooner or later.

Slept in the next morning and eventually made a plan to go on a Boat Tour of the Seine—or Bateaux Mouches (literally Fly Boats—like the bug). I like the name and how it sounds. I have done a boat tour before when I was here last year, but it was nice and relaxing to sit and enjoy the scenery. Also, before we ate Subway. Reminds me of America! I did miss how they have corn as an option here too. After the tour, Paige went to a mass at Notre Dame (so cool you can actually do that), and I went home with Jérôme and Vincent. I was gonna go to a movie with them, but my train sched didn’t work out. Apparently it was a bad movie (Jérôme told me), so I didn’t miss out on anything.

When I got home, I came home to the kids who had made me bday cards! So cute and sweet! The girl wrote L + Z= <3 ahh I love it!! And the boy is a good artist, and I could tell he put effort into it, so I was happy! They also bought me really nice chocolate from Belgium. I love me some chocolate!

So that is my bday weekend. I am happy with how it turned out. It is sad it is over. It is sad I am 22 (so weird to say). But I had a good bday. I also skyped my mom and my dear dear friend, Hannah last night too!! SOOOOOOOO nice to talk to Hannah. We are besties who met during our study abroad last year. She just got offered a job from her internship, so I am happy for her!

Random thing I need to say. When I came home today, I looked under my bed for some unknown reason, and there were like 100 freaking ants!!!!!!!!! Ewwwwwww. I have had an ant problem before, to which the dad just says to vacuum them. I need spray. Uhg it was so nasty.

Anyway nighty night!