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!