Paris is such a fabulous city which always has more to see but ive fallen in a little bit of a rut due to my hedonistic activities. I'm living a great life because i wake up when i feel like it, usually at 2pm, walk down the street, grab a delicious pastry, maybe meet someone for coffee or have one on my own, head home and do a little reading or listening to music, then head out for a quick check of emails, head home and get changed, then head out to meet friends, see oscar at the Canadian bar he works at, or catch up with guys from the hostel. I then stay out drinking wonderful red wine and beer until late, then on the way home at about 5am, i usually grab a kebab, or amazing crepe, or incredible frites avec beaucoup de mayo. Then repeat.
For a small period of time this is great but it is starting be unfulfilling and i have to find some substance and more of a purpose for being here. i have to start doing boring things. I need to get a job and start working. I need to start eating better and drinking less alcohol. I need to do some exercise. I need to read. I need to try harder at my french. I need to speak in french more. I need to go to bed early and wake early. I need to cook rather than eat out. I need to spend less and save more.
The biggest problem on my mind however is that my room mate has told me today that he doesn't want to stay in Paris. Which means that he won't sign the contract that we are going to sign in 2 days for the lease for the next 6 months, and wont be able to have his family friends provide the guarantee for the appartment. So my plans are in a little trouble. I'm in the process of working out what im going to do and im sure it will be fine, but it is a real worry on my mind. ill keep you posted.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Le Printemps in Paris
It is a wet and rainy day today in paris. It is a sunday. On Sunday everything is closed, its astonishing. One would think that in a big famous city like Paris that everything would be open 7 days, but it is not so. Some things are open, but the vast majority are closed. One of the good things about living in the Marais is that because of its large Jewish population many stores that shut on Saturday are open on Sunday, so it is not as bad as in the rest of the city. But its the worst when the Sunday is also wet because usually the only things to do on a sunday are outdoorsy kind of things like walking in the park, etc. So you lose the ability to do these as well. As a result we have spent the last 3 hours cradling our single coffee at a cafe in the Latin Quarter, while watching people scurry past under their umbrellas.
My housemate Oskar has started regularly working at a Canadian bar in Odeon. He is having a good time because it is a fun environment with lots of friendly people. The only problem is that the pay is not too great and tips are almost non existant in France. Last night I went to the bar to watch a game of ice hockey which was very enjoyable and I think by the time I finish living with Oskar I'll have a pretty good understanding of the game. Oskar is a Canadian from Toronto, his father is Swedish and his mother is Mexican. He speaks Spanish, English and resonable French. But he is definitly Canadian. He loves ice hockey, and sport in general and his humour and drinking ability would make an Australian proud.
Today is a lazabout day and tomorrow we're going to do our laundry. How exciting! Paris.
My housemate Oskar has started regularly working at a Canadian bar in Odeon. He is having a good time because it is a fun environment with lots of friendly people. The only problem is that the pay is not too great and tips are almost non existant in France. Last night I went to the bar to watch a game of ice hockey which was very enjoyable and I think by the time I finish living with Oskar I'll have a pretty good understanding of the game. Oskar is a Canadian from Toronto, his father is Swedish and his mother is Mexican. He speaks Spanish, English and resonable French. But he is definitly Canadian. He loves ice hockey, and sport in general and his humour and drinking ability would make an Australian proud.
Today is a lazabout day and tomorrow we're going to do our laundry. How exciting! Paris.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Rue de Veille du Temple
How can I tell you all that happens when there is so much that i can't remember most of it? I have to choose a couple of events and tell those rather than everything that I have done since my last post.
My face has been slowly repairing itself over the last week and a bit, no thanks to my drinking and late nights. I'm feeling almost normal again because the bruising under my eyes has almost gone away and today I had my 6 stitches removed from between my eyes. I've put some more photos up so you can tell for yourself if it is improving. This photo is me right now in the internet cafe as I type this. I'm also feeling better because I got my hair cut yesterday and removed all my split ends. This was thanks to a lovely seattlite who is a hairdresser and offered to help me out. Then this morning I gave it a good shampoo and condition. So i think i'm the cleanest I've been for a while.
But the big event in the last 24/48 hours is an apartement. Oh yes. After a series of days of searching, countless phonecalls, and a few visits to some appartments, my new friend Oskar and I have found our place and today we finalised it. The appartment is in an old building on the Rue de Veille du Temple in the 3e arrondisement, right next to the Marais. The rooms are a little small and old but we have two separate bedrooms, a toilet and shower room, and a separate kitchen area. I will get photos up as soon as I can. We move there tomorrow.
So its a sad goodbye to the hostel which i have called my home for the last 3 weeks and the start of a new chapter in my trip. Now that my face has healed a bit I start tomorrow and especially wednesday to find a job, which I am in dire need of now that I'm paying a huge amount of monthly rent. I have made a heap of friends at the hostel, the best of which work there and I will endevour to stay friends with them in the future.
Tonight we are having an omelette for dinner so i better head off and get that going. I think a big bottle of nice champagne is in order as well. Keep in contact and check out the new photos.
My face has been slowly repairing itself over the last week and a bit, no thanks to my drinking and late nights. I'm feeling almost normal again because the bruising under my eyes has almost gone away and today I had my 6 stitches removed from between my eyes. I've put some more photos up so you can tell for yourself if it is improving. This photo is me right now in the internet cafe as I type this. I'm also feeling better because I got my hair cut yesterday and removed all my split ends. This was thanks to a lovely seattlite who is a hairdresser and offered to help me out. Then this morning I gave it a good shampoo and condition. So i think i'm the cleanest I've been for a while.
But the big event in the last 24/48 hours is an apartement. Oh yes. After a series of days of searching, countless phonecalls, and a few visits to some appartments, my new friend Oskar and I have found our place and today we finalised it. The appartment is in an old building on the Rue de Veille du Temple in the 3e arrondisement, right next to the Marais. The rooms are a little small and old but we have two separate bedrooms, a toilet and shower room, and a separate kitchen area. I will get photos up as soon as I can. We move there tomorrow.
So its a sad goodbye to the hostel which i have called my home for the last 3 weeks and the start of a new chapter in my trip. Now that my face has healed a bit I start tomorrow and especially wednesday to find a job, which I am in dire need of now that I'm paying a huge amount of monthly rent. I have made a heap of friends at the hostel, the best of which work there and I will endevour to stay friends with them in the future.
Tonight we are having an omelette for dinner so i better head off and get that going. I think a big bottle of nice champagne is in order as well. Keep in contact and check out the new photos.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
I'm Only Just Alive and in Paris
Well I'm alive. A lot has happened in the last week and as a result I have been neglectful of you, my friends at home, and neglectful of this website. I am sorry for this and I hope you can forgive me. Many things have happened since my last post and I hope at some point to fill in the gaps but for this post I will concentrate on one event.
My time in Paris is going very well and I am enjoying myself even amongst some of the difficulties that have presented themselves. On Friday evening (5th May) I went with three friends to a concert in the south of Paris, in Bagneaux to be precise. It was just a little concert with a few uni groups playing, including a particularly good group. It was a lot of fun, the alcohol was cheap and flowing, the music was great and the people were nice.
We left the concert at about 11pm to head back to town and we walked up a quiet neighbourhood street on the way back to the RER train station. About half way to the station we walked past a group of four young men who yelled something out at the girls. We ignored them and continued to walk. Then one of the girls thought that she had left her mobile phone somewhere and stopped and looked in her bag. I was walking with her and I stopped also and waited, while the other two girls continued to walk up the street. She found her mobile phone and put it in her jacket pocket and we proceeded to the train station.
Then two of the young men ran up behind my friend and tackled her while trying to get her bag from her arm. She held on in the hope that they would give up, which in hindsight was probably not the best thing to do. I grabbed one of the guys and pulled him off my friend. As I pulled him off he turned around and punched me square in the nose. I didn't really realise he'd hit me at the time and I fought with him while my friend was thrown with her bag into the ground and hit her head. My other two friends ran back to us as this was happening and attempted to help. I threw myself on the guy that was tackling my friend but somehow he got the bag, and with it the two young men ran away, with their two other friends. At this point I did my best to console the girls and people came out from their houses to see what was going on. One of the girls yelled for someone to call the police. Some men who were eating dinner with their windows open offered us some water and I accepted. As I walked and drank the water I looked at the girls and couldn't believe what had happened. It had all been so quick and I'd had no time to think. I walked back and fourth for a while and then suddenly the loss of blood hit me and I collapsed like a falling tree on the sidewalk. I remember as I was falling hearing the screams of the girls as they watched me. Then everything went quiet and then became loud again. I woke about 30 seconds later and the ambulance guys had arrived.
That's the main part for now. The second part of the story will be told the next chance I get. More photos are now up, including some of my battered face. But to see the photos of me you need to join Flickr because I want to keep them private. Once you join Flickr you get access to a heap of other photos of mine and of course it is free to join.
My time in Paris is going very well and I am enjoying myself even amongst some of the difficulties that have presented themselves. On Friday evening (5th May) I went with three friends to a concert in the south of Paris, in Bagneaux to be precise. It was just a little concert with a few uni groups playing, including a particularly good group. It was a lot of fun, the alcohol was cheap and flowing, the music was great and the people were nice.
We left the concert at about 11pm to head back to town and we walked up a quiet neighbourhood street on the way back to the RER train station. About half way to the station we walked past a group of four young men who yelled something out at the girls. We ignored them and continued to walk. Then one of the girls thought that she had left her mobile phone somewhere and stopped and looked in her bag. I was walking with her and I stopped also and waited, while the other two girls continued to walk up the street. She found her mobile phone and put it in her jacket pocket and we proceeded to the train station.
Then two of the young men ran up behind my friend and tackled her while trying to get her bag from her arm. She held on in the hope that they would give up, which in hindsight was probably not the best thing to do. I grabbed one of the guys and pulled him off my friend. As I pulled him off he turned around and punched me square in the nose. I didn't really realise he'd hit me at the time and I fought with him while my friend was thrown with her bag into the ground and hit her head. My other two friends ran back to us as this was happening and attempted to help. I threw myself on the guy that was tackling my friend but somehow he got the bag, and with it the two young men ran away, with their two other friends. At this point I did my best to console the girls and people came out from their houses to see what was going on. One of the girls yelled for someone to call the police. Some men who were eating dinner with their windows open offered us some water and I accepted. As I walked and drank the water I looked at the girls and couldn't believe what had happened. It had all been so quick and I'd had no time to think. I walked back and fourth for a while and then suddenly the loss of blood hit me and I collapsed like a falling tree on the sidewalk. I remember as I was falling hearing the screams of the girls as they watched me. Then everything went quiet and then became loud again. I woke about 30 seconds later and the ambulance guys had arrived.
That's the main part for now. The second part of the story will be told the next chance I get. More photos are now up, including some of my battered face. But to see the photos of me you need to join Flickr because I want to keep them private. Once you join Flickr you get access to a heap of other photos of mine and of course it is free to join.
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