Too many random things for one title.

I love Paris. I love my program. I love the people in my program, the teachers, my host mom, everything.

However, we've reached that point where most of the roommates are ready to kill each other, finals are lurking, and we find ourselves wondering, after literally crossing the entirety of Reims twice in an afternoon (in addition to climbing a tower and doing the rest of our activities), is this really necessary?

It's not a personal thing. I love that I'm getting the opportunity to do all of this and I'm grateful that my teachers gave up their whole summer to lead a pack of 18 rowdy, often hungover, college students across Paris. And I'll bet starting in about a month or so, I'll really appreciate it. But right now all I can think is that once this program ends I never want to set foot in another museum ever again, and the worksheets are getting a little out of hand.

On the bright side, we got to go champagne tasting yesterday. I would have liked to bring a bottle home, but carrying it around for the next 3 1/2 weeks seemed like a slightly terrible idea. I did buy a bottle for my host mom who, in case you were wondering, does not drink much wine but is a big fan of both champagne and whiskey. Which I respect.

Yesterday was also, of course, the 4th of July. Let's just be real about it...in France, July 4th is about as important and celebrated as Bastille Day in America, which seems about right. So the only celebrating I really did was to order a cheeseburger, fries, and Coca-Light (French for Diet Coke) for dinner...and I don't know if it was because of the holiday, or because I hadn't had a cheeseburger for at least a month and a half, or because I had just walked 80 thousand miles in the sun, but it was THE MOST DELICIOUS CHEESEBURGER I HAVE EVER EATEN. From a pizzeria in Reims, France. Go figure.

Anyway, originally there was a plan to continue the celebration at this American bar that my group has apparently discovered, which I have not yet been to...but every single one of us just went home and passed out after the train ride. It was a long day.

Today was a fantastic day. I got up and took the métro to Tuileries and then went to a salon de thé called Angelina (I think) near the Louvre. They have a famous hot chocolate, which I wanted to try, but I didn't feel like sitting down and getting a table by myself. So I got just a basic hot cocoa to go, and a pastry, and then walked around. Originally I was headed to the Seine, but I happened to run into Ben and Morgan from my program, which was kind of random and crazy given that we're in, you know, Paris. I hung out with them for a bit until they went to the Comédie Francaise, and then I stayed outside the theater for awhile listening to a little orchestra, which reminded me of my own orchestra days and made me so nostalgic that I bought their CD.

Then I continued walking towards the river. I ended up strolling around Île de la Cité for awhile, then made my way to Île Saint-Louis for some delicious gelato at Amorino (pistachio and vanilla), and on the way I went to L'Occitane where I splurged for some high end shampoo and conditioner because my hair is suffering big time with the humidity+laziness+lack of conditioner up until now. Whew.

After that I came home and took a nap, and then met up with Valentina and Alex and Anne to go to the Musée d'Erotisme (oh yes, that's right, the Sex Museum). I ended up pretty much going through alone because I had limited time until I had to be home for dinner. But it was really cool and I'm glad that I went. There were 7 floors and each one is really different from the next. If you're ever in Paris, I recommend it. It's different than any museum I've ever been to.

I came home to rabbit for dinner. I can tell when my host mom makes something she thinks I'll be wary of, because she doesn't mention what it is until I'm done eating it. She did the same thing when we had chicken livers. But I picked up on her antics and totally knew it must be rabbit the whole time. It was really good!

Today was an awesome French language day for me. Which is exciting since I didn't even have school today. But I did a ton of money transactions (recharging my métro pass, buying hair stuff, museums, ice cream, etc.) and not once did the clerk switch to English. And at dinner my host mom and I had a pretty involved conversation about knitting and rabbits and hunting and veganism and I held my own pretty damn well if I do say so myself. Which is good because lately I've been so exhausted by dinner time that she literally laughed at me one time and said, "You don't speak French anymore!" Hah.

Now it's almost bedtime...my feet will be glad for the rest. Tomorrow begins my Last Week in Paris.

I've done so much and at the same time...there's just so much I haven't done yet!