4: Métro

Kevin Kane is our prof (teacher)–he is da bomb diggity. Coolest guy ever. Friday–the first full day–he split us up into groups of two, gave us the name of a Paris establishment, and told us to come back with food. The first person back got their pick of the treats! Sylvia, a friend on the program, was my partner, so we found our way to Ladurée (I asked what it was and all the girls yelled at me, apparently its a famous macaroon place)

I made friends with the bartender at the fiap, Baptiste. He said it was refreshing to speak french with me–all the english he speaks gives him a headache. I told him that there is a stereotype that French people won’t speak french with Americans; he said no, its just faster in english because Americans are stupid! haha. He gave us the name of a nearby bar, where we went and met a lot of cool 14è frenchies. Bartenders in France are terrible (except Baptiste bien sûr); they will literally ignore you. That’s what happens when tips aren’t part of the culture!

Had a lovely hungover walk around Paris starting bright and early Samedi. We visited Roman ruins and went under Notre Dame (our program starts with ancient Gaul and works its way to contemporary France) We went on a boat ride on the Seine in the evening and saw pretty things.

On the way back, a highschool friend studying here–Maddie Miller–recognized me on the metro. In a city of two million (and god knows how many billions of tourists), we were getting on the same metro car at the same time!

Somehow I got dragged out to a french rooftop club from 2-6 am. There was a grill shack making burgers in the club. They were unbelievably good. Swingdancing in a french club will earn you some funny looks.