La Semaine Derniere...

Okay, its been a busy past week, so I figure its time to update you/the world of my goings-ons. For starters, last Sunday I went and saw my first (only...) show in Paris-- LCD Soundsystem!! It was an amazing show, they played all my favorite songs minus one (sound of silver...alas...), and I was 2nd row. Always a good situation. I went with my friend TJ, who is a super-hipster, and was jotting down the set-list as the show went on and rocking out in his plaid shirt (he claimed it was gingham...apparently plaid is too mainstream now.). In any event, it seemed like a relatively normal show, minus the fact that some french girl brought a stuffed Kermit the Frog and handed him onstage during the encore. Everyone in the audience got suppper excited and was like "Kermiiiiiiiiiiit!" (note: the "i"'s convey their french accent.) Ah French people. What weirdos.

Moving onwards. I then had a busy week filled with homework and projects. I turned in a lit paper Tuesday, then gave a 25 minute speech on facism and a 5 minute speech on this building called the Castel Beranger on Wednesday. All of the above were unpleasant experiences, and my professor ridiculed me in front of my class after my facism speech for 30 minutes on all the things I did wrong. Good times.

Then my crazy week was over, and Rachel was in town! We did super touristy things, like the Louvre and the d'Orsay and the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe...but we ALSO went to the Pompidou Center, which I had yet to do. I discovered that I'm not so into modern art. I find it slightly ridiculous. In any event, it was good to explore something new in Paris!

We also made new french friends (!) when we were out at dinner at a jazz bar/restaurant in Menilmontant. It was a very trendy, young area I had never been to before, and two guys a table over from us started chatting with us. Their names were Brice and Vincent, and they are art students at Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Very nice and rather trendy characters. They came out with us after and when we met up with Christina and Jasmine on Mouffetard. All in all, it resulted in me and Rachel making fools of ourselves trying to speak french, which is always a fun time. I think they thought we were weird. Ah well. C'est la vie.

One other random moment of my weekend with Rachel is that I saw the drunken orange-clad teen brass band again! They were playing at Opera this time. Their real name is Les Plaies Mobiles. I feel like I am officially their fan now that I've seen them twice. Success!

Other than that, it's the final countdown of my last two weeks in Paris. I have 13 days left, as of today, and I'm definitely ready to head home. I have a lot of packing to do before then, though, and many things left to see. Plus, Natalie comes to town this weekend! And more adventures will ensue. I also only have two finals, and one more paper. Which is due...tomorrow. Excellent.

And with that, I'm off to be productive! Last assignment of the semester!!!