goodbyes and the final month in paris.

i've been meaning to post this for a while now, but the parisian heat has really been bringing me down. the past days it has been about 30 degrees celsius, i dont know what that it is in fahrenheit. im too lazy to look it up, just know its hot!! "what is this," you say, "but you're from the desert?? its 120 degress there!" well, that is well and true. but arizona is built to conquer the desert, to work against the heat, and create a comfortable living environment. its 120 outside, but 60 inside and we very rarely venture outdoors. paris is not like that. everything we do is outdoors, and to get there you can either walk or take the metro [and the metro is the hottest of all]. but outdoors is better than the inside here! there is no air conditioning, nor even fans. as i type this, it is warmer in my apartment than it is on the open street below. im having trouble adjusting to this strange environment. winter i can handle, i know its different. but summer is too similar and different all the same time. i keep reverting to survival tactics i learned in arizona, but they dont work here. youll notice in all my pictures, my hair is curly. thats because im taking up to four showers a day. no kidding.

despite all of this, the past couple of weeks have been great. 29 june was the common leaving date for all of my international friends, so they wanted their last two weeks to be great. a few remain today, but not very many. the 29th was a very sad day, but i have made amazing friends doing wonderful things so im grateful for the time ive had with them. ive always known this chapter of my life would come to an end, ive been prepared for it. [but well see how calm i feel when the time for me to leave comes!]

the beginning of their end started with fete de la musique. it was basically a day-long festival of music, all across paris. we woke up early and got to tara's house by noon, with groceries in tow. we had a fabulous breakfast of sausages, egg, and baguettes. we begun drinking mimosas in preparation for the day! after brunch, we went to a club called glazart that was holding a music festival of dubstep and reggae. we stayed there for a short while, then went to see danny's jazz band play in a cafe.

the night of fete de la musique is when it got good. aoife and i split up with the rest of the group to meet romain and his friends. ro was working as a photographer for batofar, a techno night club on an old boat! the queue was unbelievebly long, but we stuck it out and got in. aoife and both adore boats, well, mainly any means of transportation. we dont have many pictures, but here are a few, taken by arnold, romains friend.

we also spent days picnicking, and sitting on the banks of the seine.

we also went to a party at a castle, in the suburbs of paris. it wasnt a real castle, but it was built to look like one. there was even a guest house, which looked like a mini castle. it was set in the woods, a large grassy lawn surrounded by dense forest. the forest hid swings and who knows what other surprises, while the grassy lawn housed a pool and a human chess set. i forgot my camera though, so no pictures.

we ended the last weekend on a good note, with solidays. an outdoo rmusic festival, similar to warped tour in the states. only this was techno with a little bit of hip hop, not rock. it was set almost outside of paris, next to the same park romain and i went to for his birthday. so naturally, on the way, aoife and i stopped and took a little break there.

and this last picture shows you the love that exists between my ame sœur/ jumelle [soul mate/twin] and me. who has unfortunately moved back to ireland. :(

[it looks like love, but really shes trying to shake all the grass i put in her hair onto mine.]

 and the story behind the "twins". one day, we decided to go to the local flea market at porte de clignacourt. we were walking through the many small, twisted alleyways past the outdoor booths and permanent antique stores. we passed an old french man, sat in a rocking chair. as we neared him, he smiled, rumbled out 'oh, les jumeaux!' and looked away. after that short, odd encounter, aoife became my twin. it is very odd living in paris without her, or any of the irish girls, of the swedish girls, or even my american girls. only the french remain. maybe ill actually learn some french now.

l'anniversaire de romain.

8 june was romain's birthday. birthdays, to me, are a really big deal. i love celebrating them, and when i was younger, we used to celebrate half birthdays as well. so in the beginning when i realized i would still be in paris for ro's birthday, i told him he needed to dedicate some time for me. he gave me his actual birthday day, so i started to plan. i wanted to do a trip, but with ro's working schedule, it is simply too expensive. he needs to leave friday night and come back sunday morning, the most expensive times to travel.

so, i had to do things that were inside paris. so, a couple days before, i began seriously planning. i went to phildar and got yarn to make him a scarf. [he's french, and thus wears scarves all year round. finally a boy who truly appreciates hand knits!] i went to the grocery store and bought ingredients to make fajitas and a cake.

making a cake in france is very different than making a cake in america. i decided to extend myself even more, and use a french recipe. bad bad idea. i thought it would be easier, cause the recipe ingredients would be written in the same language as in the store. instead, i ended up just messing up and getting the wrong cream, so my mousse ended up more like super sugary boiling frosting. after dropping it on my toes, and experiencing the worst burn blister of my life, romain dropped a huge bomb: his mother had come up from the south for a surprise visit. in my mind, everything was a waste. all the food, all the planning, the failed cake, and the burn. all i wanted to do was cry.

surprisingly, romain still spent his birthday with me. he devoted a different day to his mother. so, in the morning, i packed a picnic. i made sandwiches with expensive bread from the bakery. they were chicken pesto sandwiches with caramelized onions, garlic, and bell peppers. then i sauteed strips of ham, and made a crunchy canadian bacon. romain's favorite food is cold pizza [not what i would have expected], so the day before i had made a pizza and chilled it overnight.

romain came over, and after opening my present, the unfinished scarf, we went to a park called bois de boulogne. now, this isnt your every-day-run-of-the-mill park. it's about fifteen minutes outside of paris, and theres a wildlife preserve in the middle of it. the wildlife preserve is on an island, with a sort of moat going around it. the only to cross that moat is by a little ferry that waits on the dock for you. it's interdit to picnic on the wildlife park, so we just explored for a little bit. it was really very lovely, there were bunnies and other sorts of wildlife running around.

 

when we got too hungry, we took the ferry back and sat by the side of the lake. we sat there for hours. i had planned for us to go to a photography exhibit afterward, but we were just too lazy and couldnt bring ourselves to move.

after the park, romain had to go to work. so he dropped me off at home [he drives a scooter, which is why we were able to go to that park.]. while he was working, i made dinner and finished his cake. i ended up making a french recipe for a chocolate cake with a melted heart. the french dont use frosting, so instead i sprinkled it with powdered sugar and shaved chocolate. i didnt have any decorating bags or tips, so i cut a too big hole in my only ziploc bag and had to make do. i sloppily wrote 'bon anniv' on it using melted white chocolate and a little bit of cream to keep it from hardening too quickly. ro has never seen the usual caliber of the cakes i make, so he was suitably impressed. i was ashamed, but it tasted great!

katy and i have a pull-out table so i set that up and we ate at it for the first time together! we then watched the final episode of flash forward which we had been saving until we could watch together.


it wasnt anything too romantic, or too extravagant, but it was certainly enjoyable!