Le week-end

So this weekend has been pretty uneventful. As you know, Friday I did laundry and watched a movie. Saturday I had a lot of stuff that I had to get done. I woke up, ate breakfast and watched Renee iron....so fun, I know. Then I showered and got ready to leave. I headed to the metro to go to this giant book store that is near where I stayed during my first week here. I had to transfer trains twice and Renee told me that I could take the bus but I really wasn't down with that. I got to the book store and felt really lost. The store is split up into 3 different stores, each having it's own entrance. One of the stores is books, the next is paper things, and the last one is movies and music. I had to ask someone where I could buy school supplies and he pointed me in the direction of the paper store.

It was seriously a million degrees in the basement (which was were all the notebooks, folders, and pens were located) I was wearing my new NorthFace because it was too cold for just a sweater. And of course I was dying in it because I was so hot in that store. I was shocked to see how much school supplies were. I guess I'm just used to going to Wal-Mart and getting 7 folders for under $2 total. Well, not in France. Each folder was 1.15 Euro and the notebooks were 1.89. I guess it isn't that much but when you add it all up and then convert it to US dollars, it starts to add up pretty quickly. I ended up buying 5 notebooks, 5 folders, and 1 larger folder just in case. It ended up costing my 27.83 Euros. The notebooks here are really weird. They aren't in lines like in America. There are lines but in between the thick lines there are more lines. It makes writing in them difficult but I got the hang of it. I had to buy more band aids for my poor feet. They are almost healed but I only had like 3 band aids left. I got back on the metro and came home. I ate lunch with Renee. She made this weird veggie soup. She said I could have some so I did because I didn't have a lot of chicken left from the night before. The soup was incredibly bland...but I ate it anyways because I didn't want to be rude. Renee walked her dog and then we left for the grocery store so she could buy things for me to eat for the 2 weeks that she'll be gone on vacation.

The grocery stores here are a lot like the ones in America, just a lot smaller and with different stuff. The biggest difference here is the milk. At home, you buy milk cold and usually only buy how ever much you'll need for the week. Well, in France, they buy their milk in bulk and it's warm. It comes in liter bottles, 6 per package. I was really put off about buying warm milk and then putting it in the refrigerator but Renee said that there's something in it that gives it a really long shelf like or something and they can sell it warm. It tastes okay....she buys what I guess would be 1% at home. It really doesn't taste like anything. Renee bought some fruit (grapes and bananas), veggies (potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, and mushrooms). She also bought some ham and sausage that's pre-cooked and you can add it to things like salad. I told her that I wasn't a very good cook so she got a bunch of ready made meals. She just picked out the ones that she said were good and I just was like umm okay that's fine. She got some pasta, rice, and some snacks. She bought some more of her chocolate yogurt (pudding) and got me some diet coke. I think she thinks it's funny that I drink that. I don't know why....she always laughs when I have a cup of it. Maybe because she doesn't drink it....she's weird. We had so much stuff it all didn't fit into her little shopping tote thing with wheels so I got stuck carrying the bag with all the heavy stuff in it.

When we got back we put all the stuff away and she went to take Norton for a walk. I think she feels bad that she's leaving for 2 weeks because she keeps asking me if I'm going to be okay and stuff. I'm sure I'll be fine. It's probably going to suck though because I'll have no one to talk to here. At least she's taking Norton so I don't have to clean up after him. When she got back we went to the movies. I also think she feels bad that she's away so much so she asked if I wanted to go to the movies and I agreed. She bought my ticket, which was nice. We ended up seeing The Informant with Matt Damon. It was really funny. It was all about corn and how Matt Damon's character screwed with the FBI and the corn company he works for. It was based off of a true story. It all takes place in Illinois so it made me kinda sad. After the movie we walked back to the apartment....we did a lot of walking that day....and Renee started making dinner.

We ate this casserole with sausage, zucchini and some sort of cheese topping. It was pretty good. We talked about money and she asked how the exchange rate was and she was shocked when I told her how horrible it was. Renee went to bed after dinner because she works on Sundays.

Today has been pretty boring. I'm not in a very good mood. Renee was being really loud this morning and she was up at like 6 so I couldn't fall back asleep and ended up laying there forever. I fell back asleep and didn't end up getting up until 10. I tried to figure out how to use her dvd player but it wouldn't read any of my dvds for some reason. I ate breakfast and then got started on re-copying my notes into my new notebooks. I just finished my reading that I had to do for class tomorrow. I have a meeting with Dr. Costello at 12pm tomorrow so he can help us fill out our forms for the validation of our visas. I need to get all that stuff together. I don't know what I plan on doing for the rest of the day. It's cold out and I look like a bum so I'll probably just stay in and watch a movie or something. It's the start of week 3 tomorrow. It really doesn't feel like it's been 3 weeks, it feels a lot longer than that. Last night was Nuit Blanche and a bunch of people from the group went (I saw their pictures on facebook) and I didn't go. I had already made plans with Renee and thought it would be rude if I broke them. I have this feeling that when we are all together next Saturday for our trip to see these chateaux they'll all talk about that and I'll be left out.....so whatever. I'm sure that's all they'll talk about at school too.

a bientot