A Wet and Rainy Tuesday

The weather today was awful. It rained all day, and it was cold. Unfortunately, it's supposed to be like this for the next week or so :/

This morning, I made sure I left plenty of time to get to school without having to bolt through the streets of Paris like I did yesterday morning. Good thing I left early because I didn't hear my Navi-Go card (metro pass) swipe in the machine, and so when I finally took it out of my backpack and swiped it again, it wouldn't go through. So I had to wait the two minutes for the card to reset before I could swipe it again. I understand that it's a security device to prevent people from sharing metro tickets, but it's a pain for those of us who aren't trying to cheat the system.

I waited the two minutes for my card to reset, but when I swiped it again, it still rejected it, so I had to wait yet again! This time, I waited for over 5 minutes to make sure the card had reset. I finally made it on the train and to school on time...without having to run. Note to self: leave early everyday, just in case. I'm ready for a non-stressful morning.

After class (we learned about pronouns today), I went to the pronunciation lab like I had yesterday. Luckily, I was finished after that, and I ate my lunch in route back to Saint Michel to do some errands.

A group of us are planning to go to Giverny on Sunday to see Claude Monet's house! We were going to go to the SNCF travel office today to buy our tickets after the francais supplementaire people finished their conversation class. Thankfully, I don't have to do francais supplementaire, so I had a two hour break before we were to meet for the ticket office. I'd planned to take a trip to New Look at some point this week while it was rainy, so I decided to head to one nearby. (Isn't this skirt adorable?!?! I couldn't resist. It's not too much is it? I love the landscape drawings, and it will be super-cute paired with a red, black, coral, or green top with black ballet flats :) I have to re-replace the white t-shirt I bought at H&M because the super-cute navy cardigan stained it today from the rain, and I don't have a way to clorox it until I get home, but other than that I'm finished clothes shopping. I'm proud of myself for limiting myself to the five pieces of clothing, two scarves and one pair of shoes I've bought for myself so far...)

I headed back to Saint Michel to meet up with the group, but they were still in francais supplementaire, so I bought stamps and phone minutes and looked around in some touristy shops for magnets & etc. while I waited. I just kept window browsing and walking around, and I ended up finding the cutest part of town! I stumbled upon a darling, dusty bookstore, a flower shop, an Irish pub (with happy hour pints for 5 euro!), a tea shop, numerous cafés, and plenty of patisseries with oh-so-yummy-looking treats tempting me from the window. It was rainy, so I didn't have my Nikon with me (although I did have my Canon!), but I definitely want to go back and take some pictures of the area! Il est très charmant!

All of a sudden, I realized two hours had gone by, so I called the francais supplementaire people about the tickets. Turns out that they'd forgotten to call me when they finished to say that they'd decided to wait to go to the travel office for another day when the weather was better. *sigh* Oh well! At least wandering through Paris hadn't been a waste of my afternoon! In fact, had it not been icky outside, it would've been a really lovely afternoon!

But by that time, my clothes were damp from the rain, and my tummy was getting rumbly (I feel like I'm always hungry in Paris!), so I decided to head back. After last night's tarte de pomme disappointment, I decided that my tastebuds needed a treat. So, I ordered a chocolat frambroises dessert. It turned out to be raspberry mousse (with raspberries) surrounded with chocolate mousse, wrapped in a swirled white and chocolate cake layer, with chocolate icing, white chocolate, a chocolate bar, and raspberries on top. Yes, it was a delicious as it sounds! I ate a cranberry salad for dinner, and convinced myself to only eat half of the chocolate treat so I would have some saved for tomorrow!

After I ate dinner, I met Michael, Keller Anne, and Alex at Saint Michel for dinner. But when I got there, they decided they wanted to get dinner individually, so I walked around for a bit and explored some souvenir shops (I felt like SUCH a tourist!) and headed back for the evening.

When I got off of the metro at Voltaire, I ran into a drum circle! They were dressed in yellow, black, and green jester-like costumes, and they had their faces painted like it was Mardi Gras. I'm assuming it was some sort of celebration to do with the Bastille and the revolution. That seems to be a common theme in Paris.

The drummers were really good, and the cadence was catchy. I left the celebration for a bit to rn into Simply Marché and grab a salad and baguette for dinner tomorrow. When I came back out, the drummers were suspended in the air via harness and crane. And there was an acrobat on a trapeeze at the top of the crane! That takes some major courage!

It was getting late, so I decided to head home, and after munching on some baguette and nutella, I'm working on homework for tomorrow. Bon soir!