Twilight Takes Forever

I'm realizing this about Paris as I sit at my desk and look out my window, and realize its still rather light outside at 9:47 pm. I guess that is what you get from living this far north-- in the winter, the sun was only up til 4pm, now it doesn't get dark until after 10.

And if I want to be really deep and literary-like and introspective, I could start talking about how this time of day(night?) parallels my experience in Paris, and how I'm leaving in five days, et cetera, et cetera.

However, I'm really not good at being deep, literary-like, and introspective, or at least on this blog. Alas. So instead, I'll just fill you in on what I've been up to lately as the clock is ticking down to ze end.

I've seen a lot of modern things in Paris. Which is weird, because I've spent the past five months hanging around Haussman's grands boulevards and living in about as traditional of a french apartment as you can find (complete with Virgin Mary statue, not figurine, but legit was-formerly-in-a-cathedral-or-something statue). But I've found that the end of my time in Paris has been filled with the opposite: lots of adventures to modern art museums and hanging around/running to La Defense.

After my many modern adventures through Paris, Natalie Roman came to visit, and we frolicked and explored Paris together for the weekend. She was en route to Prague, which is super exciting. It is also cheaper than Paris. *Jealous...* Anywho, we did lots of touristy things, plus we went to a jazz club (it was alright, but not great) and an end-of-the-year-party my school hosted on a boat across from the Seine. The boat did not move, but it was a good time nonetheless, and Natalie met most of my program on day one that way. Overall, it was a great visit!

I also had a really adorable day yesterday when I went to the horse races at Longchamp with Jenny. We bet 2 whole euros on the "elite" race of the day- she bet on a horse named Sarafina because the name was pretty, I bet on a horse named Deluxe because it was from the US. In the end, Sarafina won, Deluxe got second, and Jenny won a whopping 40 centimes, which, when you convert it, will get her around what, 50 US cents? She can buy a whole gumball!

After our race track adventure, we meandered over to Bagatelle, this garden my host mom has been glorifying for the past five months as a place that I "absolutely must go to!" It was blah. Super french. Lots of roses. And irises. I took a nap, though, which was thoroughly enjoyable.

And now I have finals. Boo. I'm so over doing work, as you may have noticed from my various blog posts while I've been procrastinating throughout the semester (oops.). But I only have three exams, and will be done on Thursday! Then I'll be heading back stateside on Sunday.

It's very bizarre knowing I only have 5 days left here. Part of me wants to do alllllllll the things I wanted to throughout the semester that I never managed to do, but at the same time, I don't want to spend my last week just checking items off a list. So we shall see. I plan on enjoying myself, spending time with my friends, seeing the city, and occasionally considering studying. Wish me luck!