Packing Up

I'm up before my alarm on a Wednesday morning, which never happens. It must be either eagerness to see another bright blue day in Paris, or moving anxiety. Probably the latter - One can't expect too many ungrey days around here. But yesterday was a tantalizing taste of spring, and lugging trunks of my stuff through the entrance of my building was a weird way to enjoy the leafy cobblestone courtyard on the first bright, warm day in awhile.

Courtyard chez moi

Mathieu left in January for Malaysia/Vietnam/Cambodia - based in Kuala Lumpur but moving around for meetings - and has been sending me snippets of information, like "it's humid" and "it's 95 degrees". He says Kuala Lumpur is like a modern Western city but Phnom Penh is nice and green. I'll find out for myself in just two more days (ahhh!)

I've spent my bachelorette weeks in Paris going to French classes, giving English lessons, packing suitcases and trunks, going to doctors and pharmacies, and otherwise just trying to cram in as much time as possible with friends. I went east to Strasbourg to visit Clementine, who I'd met in Egypt, and we spent a weekend biking everywhere in the cute little border town with Germany. Naturally, there was no shortage of beautiful wood-trimmed architecture or hearty food.

My cousin Erin visited me for a long weekend amid her semester abroad in London. We shivered through the city and checked off a lot of hotspots in Paris Bingo. While lunching on galettes in a small creperie in the Marais, I heard a familiar voice and looked up to see Romain Duris, a beloved French actor (L'Auberge Espagnole, L'Arnacoeur, Paris) who has played opposite Audrey Tautou, Vanessa Paradis, Juliette Binoche...I flipped out and tried to stop my gaze from constantly shooting over at him a few tables away. I got this very lame picture of him (below) with food in his mouth and his girlfriend raising her arm like she's bopping him on the head. Erin said that he looked more like a homeless guy than one of France's most famous actors. He was a bit on the grisly side (green shirt, in the center of the picture, toward the back - not that you can't already tell, right?)

Romain Duris having lunch with us

Last week Noellex (Noelle + Alex) came to visit, took me out around town, and were even super helpful with moving stuff. We went to the Agricultural Exposition and saw a lot of cows and horses, but none of the politicians who supposedly visited too. (Insert your own crack equating politicians to farm animals.)

Saturday was my going-away party at a new(ish) bar called The Workshop. True to its theme, there was ratty furniture in the basement - some armchairs with exposed springs and tables that collapsed and tossed our drinks (and at least one person) to the floor. But the ambiance was fun and the DJ funky, and lots of people came out to celebrate, reminisce and dance. Here's a silly collage my classmate Da Woon made:

Going-away soirée

Now I'm skipping class this morning to do more packing, cleaning, hauling of things, etc, before running to school for a farewell coffee with my classmates when they get out. Time to crawl out of bed and get back to business! As expected, it's cloudy and grey.

But somehow today it's charming.