Today

A lot has happened, but I don’t even remember it all. That’s what happens if I don’t blog every other day, but I just don’t want too anymore.

Today was beautiful. It was sunny, not a cloud in the sky. It was in the 40’s, so I wore a lighter jacket, but I may have been a little underdressed because I was cold, but it was so nice having the sun. I actually got to wear sunglasses.  It is supposed to be in the 50’s this week, but rainy, but I will take it because it has been in the 20’s for like two straight weeks.

Today I went to CIO. I don’t care to look up what it stands for right now, but the dad recommended I go there for advice on Master programs in Paris. It is an organization that gives advice on schools and such, and they have an office located at the same metro stop as my train, so it was convenient. I brought Paige with me, which was lucky because she speaks French better, so when I got confused when the lady was talking, she helped me. I was hoping someone would speak English, but no luck. Anyway, the lady just gave me a list of schools with Masters programs in business in Paris, all of them I already knew about, but hey it was worth a try. I never woulda known if it’d be worth it or not if I didn’t go, so I am glad I did even though I didn’t learn anything new. But now Paige is interested in school too possibly, so I am glad she went with me because she got info for Art schools.

Today we ate coq au vin, which is a chicken dish cooked in red wine. It is a classic French dish that I had yet to try, so I was glad we had it. It was very good! At one point, the dad put some liquor in the stewing pot, and I got to light a match and light the alcohol on fire to cook. It took like four failed attempts before I finally got it; I thought a huge fireball would blow up on me. I singed some of my hair though, not much, but anyways it was cool. The dad videotaped me, so I may put that on here.

I bought rain boots this weekend! Basic black rain boots, but they have like a 2 inch wedge to them. The selection of rain boots was very limited, and they were the first ones I found, so I got them because they were cute. So far I like them, and the heel isn’t too much of a problem (I suck at walking on heels—I don’t own a pair of high heeled shoes for a reason).

Stir Crazy

Well I have been here 3 days in a row not leaving this village, and I am going crazy. I am at my wit’s end… I just need to get out of here and just breathe. I just feel like I am under constant scrutiny in this house, and leaving every day gives me a breather to just act how I normally would and be me! But I haven’t been able to do that for three days. I just feel like I am judged when I stay in my room, and when I leave my room with every movement I make. And I know most of it is in my head, and I am acting paranoid, but three days is too damn much. I must leave, and thank god tomorrow is Thursday, and I can.

I have stayed because of snow days, and I am getting sick of snow. It just won’t go away. It is in the process of slowly melting, so now when I walk outside in the driveway, I slip every other step in the slushy mess. I don’t have any shoes I can wear in this weather either. I don’t want to wear my new suede boots, so I usually wear my uggs, but today they soaked through and then I wore my leather boots, but I don’t wanna wear my nice shoes in this nasty slush. It is all muddy , cold, and wet here. Blehh. I am on a mission for rain boots this weekend along with leg warmers because I can wash mud off the rain boots no problem. I just need shoes that won’t stain or anything and can withstand wet/cold weather.

I finally received my health insurance stuff last night, but they sent my file back with even more problems. I sent my file initially in August when they had a problem with my birth certificates. It took until January to finally get the right birth certificate stuff they wanted, and now I have more problems. I have to get my birth certificate re-translated by a certified French translator approved by the court system, and I have now found one, and hopefully I can go to them Friday and pay/give them my documents to translate. And then I can send all the extra stuff they want, and hopefully they will be happy, so I can finally be on French health insurance. I bet there will be more problems though with my luck.

It is so hard to be a foreigner living in another country legally. I just can’t imagine this being an on-going battle for the next few years. I almost think just getting married would simplify everything a whole lot. Ha ha we will see about that, it probably won’t happen until after I have somehow decided to stay here and done it independently.

I have found a school in Nice with and Intl Business Master program that is a public University, and I am pretty sure in English. Jerome has given me a contact who has helped tremendously, but the directors of the program still won’t email me back (surprise, surprise). But that’d be great to pay like 500 euro total for a program in English that I want. I think I would like living in Nice… better weather for sure. It is so beautiful, but I don’t know anything yet. The application is not even available online yet.

The dad has not done “faire des courses” (grocery shopping) in sooo long. I have no cereal… haven’t for the past day, and this is a huge dilemma! I have no bread… there is no sandwich bread to speak of. He hasn’t even said if he is gonna go tomorrow, which he needs to tell me bc we still share my (yes I know they gave it to me) car, so I should be entitled to a heads up because my ass is planning on going to Paris tomorrow.  Whatever, I am peacing out at 9:15am tomorrow if he doesn’t tell me otherwise.

I have already started to dream what I want my mom to bring me when we reunite in Mexico. Definitely more peanut butter. The peanut butter here is too natural for me, which I know sounds degusting, but sorry, I want the fake peanut butter from a straight-up factory. I want some easy mac, but Velveeta brand. I can’t even think of the shit food I would snack on sometimes back in the USA. I did stay away from it, but now in France, I am entitled to it. Cheese-its for sure. More popcorn, it is so nice having my stockpile of American popcorn here. I want normal sized toothpaste, the toothpaste comes in smaller tubes. A big bottle of conditioner. I have a monster one I brought in August, and I am still using it. You just can’t get big sized stuff here… it is a waste really in some cases. France is all green, but I think buying in bulk is more green in some cases. Oh I want a big bottle of Curel lotion. And I want my mom to bring some of my shoes… I know my cowboy boots and small black boots. I don’t even remember my other shoes.  I am gonna have to bring a big suitcase to Mexico, so I can bring all this stuff back!

Missed Train

Today is a snow day for both kids, and it is Monday. I don’t mind too much. I got to sleep in, so that is always great. Although, I do enjoy my conversation class, especially since Paige and I are in there together, but she had a snow day as well today.

I had a really good weekend, and I didn’t even make it to Nantes. That is a story within itself haha, so I will start with the beginning…

So I took the usual 6:30pm train on Friday night to Paris. It had started snowing as I was driving to the train station with the dad, and was coming on full stream when I arrived in Paris. For some reason, I just didn’t think it snowed in Paris really, but boy it SNOWED in Paris this weekend! Anyway I arrived in Paris and headed straight for Paige’s new house (she just got a new family) near La Défense.

It took a good 45 minutes or so to get there, and then I had to walk in a few inches of snow for like 10 minutes once I got off the tram stop. Luckily Paige gave good directions, so I found the house easily, but it felt like it took forever because it was dark, snowing, and cold. I met her family, and they were all so nice. Two parents, 5 year old boy, 13 year old girl, and 15 year old boy. I stayed for only like 20 minutes unfortunately because I had to be at the Montparnasse train station to take my train to Nantes in time, but the little time I did have, I saw the house and family, and they even let me eat a slice of pizza.

I then left for the 45 minute journey to Montparnasse. I was making good time when Jerome texted me asking if I was at Montparnasse. Turns out, we had a train leaving the same station at similar times (he was going out of town this weekend too), so we got to randomly meet up for twenty minutes or so. I was happy to unexpectedly see him, so we were just chatting and giving him advice because he has recently gone through a difficult thing in his life, so I got carried away with the time.

I left him with four minutes till my train to spare, and I went to the TV screens that tell you which platform you leave off of, and I couldn’t find Nantes. So I asked an SCNF guy, and he said it looks like it already left. So I then called Jerome and found him again, and he left like 5 minutes later for his train. Then I was alone again, and went to an office to see my options. They weren’t helpful as usual, so I was out 100 euros total for my missed train, and I really didn’t want to pay for another ticket.

I called Paige like 5 times because I started to make my way back to her house assuming I could stay with her. She eventually got back to me and said it was fine. It was annoying because I had to wait like 30 minutes for the tram to her place to leave La Défense (the tram times are less late at night). But I made it eventually! Everyone was asleep except Paige when I arrived, so we just chatted a bit, and I told her my story, and then we hit the sack. It is lucky bc she has two twins in her room, so I had my own bed!

The next day, we hung out at the house all day until nigh time. We woke up and ate some cereal and hung out with the two youngest kids. We then played with the 5 year old while the mom cooked lunch. We just played marbles. He’s a cute, little, rambunctious boy—well he is five. Then we had a large lunch. We started with grapefruit, potatoes, green beans, steak (which was extremely rare and chewy), salad, and then pineapple, and of course, bread a cheese. It was a good, classic French meal. The fam then left, so we had the house to ourselves. We just hung out, and then our friend Lindsey came over, and we just hung out some more until the evening. Lindsey and Paige went to the Pompidou for an exhibit, but I made plans with Justine to go out with her, so we parted ways at La Défense.

So I made my way back to Jerome’s apt, having made plans with Vincent to leave his keys for me (he was at dinner with his gf), and I got ready there, and then set off for the pregame. It was at the same apartment as last time when I went out with Justine. There were like 5 people total, all of which I knew except one, but they were all really nice.

We then made our way to Showcase, a club underneath a bridge near Concorde, which is kinda cool. Anyway we got in this long line, and it was freezing and snowing outside! We waited like an hour! And then like another hour for the Vestaire (where you put your coat). The bathroom line was ridic, so I never even went to the bathroom there. Drinks were 12 euro. It was an awesome venue, but the waiting times SUCKED. I was sober by the time we got through everything, so it honestly wasn’t much fun unfortunately.

I kept contemplating taking a taxi and just going home, but eventually we all left together. Luckily Justine’s boyfriend parked his car nearby, so I got a free ride back to the apartment. I was asleep by 5am. I then woke up at 11am and watched a show, ate breakfast, showered etc. I didn’t really know what I’d do with my day, but it all worked out.

Vincent made lunch for us, so I ate with them and talked about our nights. Then Paige had called and invited me to go see her, so I joined her and some girls at Angelina ‘s (a restaurant), and it is known to have the best hot chocolate in Paris, and it was really good! I got white hot chocolate too! Then we walked around in the snow, and eventually made our way to the Louvre food court and “camped out” there. We were just chatting. I got too know a girl from Mexico and Alabama, both equally as nice. Turns out the Alabama girl knows my town, and works very close doing white water rafting tours. Small small world.

Also during this time, I was trying to coordinate seeing Jerome before I went home. I knew there were train problems (either a strike or because of the snow), so I was worried if it would work out, but it did. I met Jerome at the train station got to see him for like two hours before I went home. I was so happy to see him. I wish I could have been stranded in Paris to stay the night, but oh well.

I don’t really know what I will do today because there’s no school or activities, but Mondays are the busiest with driving, so I got lucky to miss this day. I am doing lots of laundry today I know—the kids’, my bed, and my clothes.

Future

So… I feel like I have reached a decision for what I am gonna do next year. I haven’t talked to anyone about the decision except emailing my Mom and to Christy (prev au pair) who advised it, but I think it is my best bet.

I had a dilemma of French public schools because one actually emailed me back saying I need a C1 level of French (almost fluent), and I am in an A2 class, so I don’t think I would advance enough in the time frame. I was telling Christy about this online last night, and she said she was a C1 level by the end of her second year, so she said to au pair another year and then go to school, which I think is brilliant. Why go to a private school and spend 15,000 euros when I can au pair another year, and then go to almost free public school in France?

So I think I will au pair again. I can’t believe I am saying that, but now I know what to look for. A family INSIDE Paris that’s for damn sure as well as my own space. Like my own apartment or “chamber de bonne,” which is your own space within the same apt building as your fam. Just as long as I can come and go as I please to have more freedom. Things I like about my family already are that I get every weekend off and every school holiday off (full 2 weeks) no questions asked (a lot of girls work some on wknds and holidays, and of course the children are pretty much perfect (although you never really know what the kids will be like until you have started). I want a fam to pay for my flight and/or school because some families do indeed do that. I don’t know if this is likely, but to not work mornings. One friend doesn’t have to do anything until the afternoon to pick up the kids from school—that way I could sleep in more! It would be nice to not have to do the kids laundry/ironing, but that isn’t too important, but I am the only au pair I know who has to do that. I wouldn’t want to cook either, but that is not a deal breaker whatsoever.

 I am pretty much asking for the least work possible while getting an apt in Paris haha… I can dream at least. The two main things are live in my own place in Paris and weekends/holidays off. I can deal with everything else, but paying for my flight or school would be great as well bc they’re like $1000 each.

I have started my search, but it really isn’t the “season” to find families yet, so I have time. I need to talk to my friends, family, and Jerome about this though to get their input.

As for today, it was Wednesday, so I was busy. I was in charge of cooking tonight, and I made la soupe poireaux (leek soup with potatoes), and then endives au jambon, which apparently “endive” is chicory in English. I have never heard of that, but it is a weird vegetable lettuce thing that I wrapped in ham (jambon) covered in a Bechemel sauce (butter, flour, egg, cheese configuration). The dad helped with the endive part at least. But yea, I think from here on out, I am in charge of cooking. He told me to buy a notebook to plan out the weekly meals, so I am nervous about all that, but it will be ok.

I also hurt the car today… I was driving the girl to pony club on a straight part of the road maybe going 50 mph when a car coming the opposite direction hit my side mirror. I guess we were both too close to the middle. Idk whose fault it was, but the mirror is cracked now. The roads are so narrow this was bound to happen sometime uhg. But I am bad and lied about it saying I was on the side of the road in town stopped when a car hit me and just kept going. I don’t want them to think I am terrible at driving because I am not (although I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me). But honestly, I don’t know if it was my fault or not, so maybe that makes it better. I don’t know. I am really ashamed. I almost didn’t write it out on here… But they haven’t event fixed the car from the first time, which is such a minor dent/scrape when I was parallel parking and scraped a pole. I paid them 200 euros for the deductible, and idk what they did with the money, certainly not fix it. If they don’t do it by the time I leave, I will ask for my money back that’s for sure.

I didn’t go to school yesterday because it snowed and the girl didn’t have school. I was happy because I got more sleep, but I was bored most of the day, and this is the second French class I have missed in a row. Although these two times haven’t been all my fault, so there’s that at least. I didn’t have a choice about yesterday.

Motivation

So le weekend… let’s see. Well before that. Friday was pretty boring, not much to do, so I watched like 3 or 4 episodes of Breaking Bad. But I wasn’t completely lazy because I did run! Took the train at 6:30pm as usual and started my weekend.

My train station has a lot of stores, so I started my les soldes shopping and used my gift card to buy half off perfume at Yves Rocher, and then I looked at some dirt cheap shoes next door, but they were too small. I am a size 9 (size 40 in France), and apparently to French standards I have HUGE feet. It is hard to find shoes here.

Afterwards, I headed to Jerome’s work to pick up his keys and saw him for a few minutes. I then headed to a Monoprix (grocery store along with clothes, etc. Like a small version of WalMart), and I found tortillas! I have been looking for them for a while, so I instantly bought them along with quesadilla ingredients! Of course, there is no tilapia here, so I bought some kind of fish (all they have is salmon and this other fish basically).

I then headed to Jerome’s apt, and Vincent was there. We hung out, and I made quesadillas, which were good, but not as good since I didn’t have my “American” ingredients. Jerome came home eventually, and we watched Koh-lunta, which is a French tv show spin-off of Survivor (France is so behind the times :p ). Afterwards, I went to bed with Jerome, so a quiet Friday night like most Friday nights.

The next day, I met up with Meghan at Les Halles (a mall in the center of Paris) for les soldes shopping! It was uber crowded as I knew it would be, but well worth it. I bought some black, suede cowboy boots, sparkly black flats, a sweater dress, and 2 cutesy shirts. I never go shopping, so it was nice. We also got lunch at a Mexican burrito place, which was oh-so-American J

Then we saw a movie, The Perks of Being a Wallflower. It has Emma Watson in it, so I wanted to see it. I didn’t know anything about the movie other than the fact it was a book. It was pretty good! It is about a guy about to start high school who went through a lot of emotional things and him making friends and living his first year of high school.

We headed back to Jerome’s apartment afterward and hung out and made dinner until Jerome came home, and eventually we went out to a mutual friend’s birthday party (a French guy I met in Raleigh). It was a lot of fun. The birthday boy rented out the downstairs of a bar, which was cool because it looked like a cave with stone walls and (Jerome said) cheap drinks (like 8 euro for a mixed drink—I guess it is cheap for Paris). Anyway it was a lot of fun having an American friend along! We went home with Vincent and his gf (Jerome wanted to stay out later). I was just so tired, and we got back at 4am. Plenty late but earlier than normal. And Jerome got back who knows when, but I woke up when he climbed into bed, and went straight to sleep after.

Sunday didn’t do too much as usual. Slept in, then Jerome cooked some lunch. He had never seen Finding Nemo, so we watched that. I hadn’t seen it in so long, so that was nice. We also looked at my pictures on fb because I had a few of my house, and then we google imaged my area, and he wants to come visit and meet my fam! So maybe this summer he will come visit, who knows, but I would like that.

I have also been having trouble getting back into the swing of things speaking French with Jerome, so we discussed it, and I thought of an idea to speak one hour in French and then the reward is one hour of English. It is sad, but I need a reward to motivate me to speak English, but I think it will work!

Today was good. I had my conversation class, which I liked. Then I hung out with Paige (in my class) for like 2 hours before going home. I was really looking forward to seeing her bc she just moved in with a new fam, and I wanted updates! She loves them so far, so I am happy for her.

Then I came home, and did my thing. I spoke a lot of French today with the dad, and I could tell he was happy, which makes me happy too. I have been lazy, and I am just motivated now, which is good. At one point I asked him a question, and he told me that was very good French! When I was just asking “Should I use this?” Apparently Should I was complicated and I got it right!

I also just bought my train tickets to Nantes this weekend to see a French friend I met in Raleigh. It looks like a pretty place, so I am excited. The website kept rejecting my card, but I finally got it to work. Pheww!

Overwhelmed

I failed to mention on Wednesday for lunch I tried octopus. That day I was talking to the dad by the pantry, and he whipped out a normal, little cardboard box, and he asked if I had ever tried octopus. I was flabbergasted because that was the last thing I expected to be in a box, but a metal can was inside, so that made more sense. Anyway the kids love it, and I tried a piece. I thought it would be fish texture, but it is like meat texture, and it’s ok, not amazing, but hey, I ate octopus!

Yesterday, I went and saw Jerome, which was nice as always. We even went out for lunch at this nearby sushi place called Sushi Love. As I have said before, sushi is not as great as in America because we offer a lot of special rolls, and it is cheaper. The rolls here are more simple, so boring, but Sushi Love was pretty good for France standards. It was a cute restaurant.

Today I have to take the train with the dad to Paris because we are sharing a car. I probably won’t post this to the afternoon, but I am not sure if I am expected to sit with him or not. I just listen to music, read, and sleep during the trains, so I wouldn’t be much of a conversationalist anyway. Anyway this will be kinda awkward, but I never feel completely at ease here. I am annoyed because I can’t take an earlier train to actually get to class on time, I will be 15 mins late, which is ok, but then I can’t meet anyone before class starts, and I have no friends in my class yet.

I am glad today is Friday. I am kinda exhausted from this week. I hate waking up at 6:30am, it sucks. Why can’t the boy set an alarm and wake himself up? It is not necessary for me to wake him up uhg. Some of my au pair friends aren’t even on duty until the afternoon and don’t have to take the kids to school in the morning, so lucky. I only get like 6-7 hours of sleep every night, which isn’t healthy at all. And the weekends it isn’t much better because I wake up early when Jerome does for work, and sometimes don’t go back to sleep, and then Saturday, we go out, so I don’t sleep then either.

I have been looking into French schools recently, as you know, but I have kinda forgotten the visa part, which requires one to go through CampusFrance.org. A shit site if you ask me. It took me forever to figure out how to begin all the shit I have to do for this site, and when I did figure it out: it’s a lot of shit. Gahhh. A ton of translated stuff needs to be posted on there (official translations=expensive and timely). I am overwhelmed. The only two public schools with Intl Business are apparently really hard to get into Jerome told me, so that doesn’t boost my spirits, and then he told me to look into Nice, and so far, I have only found one public university with that program, and I am pretty sure that’s it. There’s just slim pickings for public schools with business; they’re all private, there’s a ton of those. So I am just concerned about all this, and NO ONE WILL RESPOND TO MY EMAILS. French bastards uhg. I even send them in French…

I am just really worried about all of this. Becoming an au pair was hard, but in retrospect easy because I had someone tell me what I needed to do, but now, it is all up to me, and no one is helping me at all. I don’t have anyone to ask advice too either. I don’t know anyone who has been in a similar situation as me.

Well I am sounding sad right now. I am just OVERWHELMED.

Update:

I am all fancy with my italics.

Anyway its a no go for school today. I read on the train website that there'd be delays for my train, so me and the dad discussed a while about what to do. He said it was up to me to take the train at 9:30 (or whenever it got there), so I eventually said I will just stay here. I feel guilty, but he said it was ok to do every once in a while, and that I don't stay in a lot anyways (I don't know if this fact bothers him? But I did last semester, usually it was like half and half in Mondays whether I stayed in or not). So I am staying home today. Gonna watch some Breaking Bad first things first. Then look more into CampsFrance.org crap and maybe, who knows, I will get my butt up and run. He also said I never jog anymore, which I know is bad, but kinda weird he mentioned it?

Anyway I am happy to relax. I can't believe I didnt really enjoy my week of Paris doing nothing bc I like it now. It is good to have a mix though. Being busy all the time or bored all the time is tiring it their own ways.

Random pics

The girl drew this for me tonight, it is hanging on my wall!

The wallabies I saw while running at Jardin des Plantes over break.

Baboon statue at the Louvre- Egyptian section

Vieux (Old) Nice at night when me and Jerome went out to dinner

Sunrise picture when driving to the girl's school one morning

I Don't Know What to Name This

Well today was Wonderful Wednesday… not. Just a busy busy day all around. I re-woke up at 10:30am and was literally busy with stuff until after dinner at 8pm… that’s a full day for yah. But it feels productive, which is nice. I am just looking forward to seeing my boyfriend tomorrow… I just need some time to myself with him after being Super Au Pair all day.

Last night I made a boulette. I have been in charge of dinners every day this week without the dad physically doing anything… he just tells me what to do, and I do it. So I made a porc roti last night with potatoes and broccoli, and it wasn’t ready until 8:10pm. The mom was like Why aren’t we eating? And I have half explained saying I was waiting for the dad to come back for the garage, and she said we don’t have to wait on him, and that they boy has to go to bed by 8:30pm at night. And she was all pissy at dinner, and I just felt awkward.

After dinner, I was in my bedroom talking about it with my mom and Paige, and they told me I needed to go apologize, which I agreed to, but I was scared because I hate confrontation. I didn’t do it that night and told myself I would do it in the morning, and so I did. I just it was hard cooking dinner by myself on top of everything else, so I just need to manage time better, and she accepted my apology, so it is all good now.

Tonight, I cooked lentils and sausage, which was really yummy. Also last night, I made little pastries with goat cheese inside. It sounds fancy, but it is easy to make, and it is really good when they are warm and gooey. Anyway, tonight we did Christmas. The boy really liked his shirt, and the kids both liked the English Trivial Pursuit. We played afterwards, and I got like 5 questions in a row right because it is a junior edition, and therefore easy. And then, they got me a French cookbook just liked the one the dad has, but an updated version (his is 15 years old). I really like it! It has all sorts of dishes and sauces etc. and it is all French cooking! And it is in French too, which is cool I think. My French is better now. I am not fluent, but I can read and understand a lot more than even a month ago.

FOOD

I'd just like to say, I ate like crap this past week, and tonight I ate like a queen as per usual. And I made all the food by myself! The dad told me to boil des haricots plats (large, flat green beans), which were yummy-- lots of flavor. Then this baked cauliflower dish that I have made a million times, but it is easy and good. And then I had these little dishes (like the size of your hand- i forget the name), and I coated them with butter, then a piece of ham along one side, then a slice of goat cheese, an egg, and last but not least, creme fraiche. Stick em in the oven like 10 mins (but you must keep watch), and voila-- AWESOME YUMMYNESS, especially dipping bread. It is like oeuf à la coque (semi cooked egg). Sorry I just had to post this :) It is nice eating real food again!

I am Not Dead Take 2

Well I am not dead again for the second time. I just haven’t felt the need to blog. I didn’t do a whole lot my week in Paris, and now I am regretting it because even today I thought of stuff I could have done with so much free time.

Anyway, I just feel weird right now. I am sitting at home right now in my room… it is just weird because it has been 2 weeks since I have been here. I just want to get into my routine again.

I came home early today at like 1:30pm because right now the dad is taken a part his car to fix it, so we have to share for the time being. He took me to the station today and then picked me up, and I had to come home early, so he’d be able to go somewhere, which was fine because I wanted to come home to do my laundry and wash my sheets.

I found a blanket in the closet room and added it to my bed, so hopefully I will be warmer at night. I am not sure if I should have asked, but they’re not using it, so I don’t think they’ll miss it. When it gets warmer again, I’ll put it back where I found it.

I am annoyed because I have my broken chair back in my room again… I am really confused why it is back here? I thought when it was taken the first time, it would be repaired, but apparently no. I don’t know what to do… I can’t swap it for a new one, but I don’t want to deal with this shit chair for another 7 months. 

I am also annoyed with my bedding. French sheets are weird, and I have a duvet cover over the actual comforter, which I have to physically put in, and I am pretty sure the comforter is just too big for the duvets because there’s all the extra material no matter how hard I try. It’s driving me nuts to have lumpy sheets uhhg. And it sucks because when I first moved here, it was fine. I must suck at putting sheets on, but I am a pro at the kid’s beds. Granted they are smaller, but I have even done it to Jerome’s bed, so I just think the blanket magically grew.

I feel dejected right now. I don’t want to sound depressed, but maybe I will feel better once I start the au pair routine this evening, who knows. But it is the end of holidays, and a welcome to another 7 weeks of this until March vaca (yes, I have counted… less than two months!), so it is normal to feel a little sad when holidays end.

My time with Rebecca was really nice over the holidays. I saw her usually every day at least for a little bit. Her family was so nice and welcoming. I went out to dinner and lunch with them a few times, and they always paid even when I tried to pay myself. But they were really nice people regardless of that. One night we went to a restaurant I went to Nico with in August where they serve just one dish—steak and fries, but is really good. It was nice to go there again. Afterwards, we were in the Latin Quarter, so we went to a bar that me and Rebecca went to last summer for our study abroad friend’s bday, so it was nostalgic!

On her last day in Paris, I went to lunch with her family and then me and Rebecca headed to Montparnasse to go up the building, but the line to get in was way too long, so we just walked around until I mentioned an idea. A month or so ago, Paige took me and a few friends to the top of a department store, Printemps, near the Opéra area. We went to the top where there’s a café, and a fantastic view of Paris. And it is completely free to just go up there and not buy food. We went as the sun was setting, and the building had just turned on their lights (Eiffel Tower, Sacre Coeur, and Arc de Triomphe), so it was beautiful. It was a good last image for Rebecca to see of Paris before she comes back, which hopefully won’t be too long.

Rebecca and her friend Rachel also celebrated New Years with me. We went to a house party in the burbs where Nico and our friend Loupias was going, so I asked if we could join. From what I remember, it was a blast. We met a few native English speakers surprisingly. I just remember dancing with Rebecca then before I knew it, I was being put in a bed, and I got sick on the floor.  Not a bright moment at all. Then at like 5am Nico woke me up by slapping my face and we went home, it took like an hour, and I just crashed when I got back to Jerome’s and subsequently, stayed in all day after that. Rebecca and Rachel left when they found a bed for me, and they got home ok. Paris had the RERs and metros working all night, which was really convenient.

Jerome came back on the 3^rd at like 9pm, so I was looking forward to that. We really missed each other! He worked Friday and Saturday though, but we are just back into the grind now. I saw Clare and Kendall Friday night for drinks, which was great. Hadn’t seen them in two weeks! They then went out with me on Saturday with Jerome, Vincent and his gf, Nico, Rousseau and his gf, and it was a lot of fun! We had an apéro at Nico’s for a while, and it was nice having my English speaking friends, but we really did speak French a lot too. We then went to Chatelet to a bar/club, and it was just ok. My friends made it fun, but I hope I never go back there. People kept pushing into me and spilling on me, and the boys were really aggressive and wouldn’t leave the girls alone, but it was a great night overall.

Then on Sunday, I just stayed in at Jerome’s all day. He set up his drum set and we were fixing his bed and just lying low. It was a nice, last day of holidays. Then I came home last night at like 9:30pm. I got in bed at like 11:30pm, but I don’t think I fell asleep til 1am. My sleep routine is tuned in at like 1 or 2am, so I need to quickly adjust to the waking up at 6:30am and thus going to sleep at 11:30pm again.

I had class today—a conversation themed class. We just got to know each student and talked about whether we spoke English or French to our families. The teacher was vibrant and energetic, somewhat unlike a French person to a certain degree.

I finished season 2 of Breaking Bad this afternoon... it is so good! Ended on a cliffhanger kinda...glad I downloaded half of season 3! I also downloaded some Game of Thrones episodes because I have heard good things about it... I am sure I'll get addicted.