January 12th Saturday

I awoke to our door buzzer. Karuna was due to arrive that morning. I went to open the door not realizing that it was many hours after her scheduled arrival. She was supposed to be in at 8:30am and ended up arriving at 11:30am. I was sympathetic to her flight delay but glad that I’d gotten more than a few hours sleep before she arrived.

Karuna looked around at the apartment that used to be hers. She lived here for five months last year. She pointed out all the dishes she’d bought and all the other items she left behind. I didn’t realize so much of the stuff had been hers.

We talked for a while before Karuna collapsed in bed. I finished my J.D. Robb book while she slept and Adrienne took a shower. Once I finished my book I crept into the kitchen to hang out with Adrienne. I munched on some of my Muesli cereal for breakfast.

I decided it would be good to have some bread for later. I managed to wade through the suitcases and drying rack to get my clothes and get dressed. I then made my way to the Gosselin bakery on the corner. I got one and a half baguettes for later. Once I had returned, I couldn’t resist breaking into the baguette for a snack. I ate it with some camembert, pâté, and butter.

After the snack, Adrienne tried reading some of our homework while I typed up a bit of my journal. It’s at least a productive way to procrastinate homework. Karuna snorted when I told her that. Eventually she woke up and took a shower. Then there was a ring on our doorbell. I hadn’t even heard it before. I opened the door and it was M. Choupin (our landlord). He was there to say hi to Karuna and see if we needed anything. Then he revealed his main reason for dropping by. He told us that his daughter would not be coming to Paris so the apartment would be open for us to stay in. I was so stunned at the news that I think I failed to show my excitement at the idea. The space seemed a bit small for two people at first but I can’t deny that the price and location are mouthwatering ideas. We told M. Choupin that we would talk amongst ourselves and come up with a solution. I was very torn and excited about the new development. We loved the apartment in Sevres but I couldn’t ignore a previous statement I’d made, “It’s too bad we can’t just stay here the whole time.”

Karuna had a good friend that she wanted to see. She got ready and went down to meet up with him. Adrienne and I got ready and went down to meet them. His name was Virgile. He was very cute and had a large mass of hair perched on his head that made me miss Tom a bit. He was very nice and spoke amazing English. For some reason, the conversation had started in English and it was hard to randomly switch.

We talked for a bit before he went to meet another friend. We gained another fourth as we saw Heidi at the café. We were all hungry so we decided to go get some dinner. We left the place up to Karuna since she’s the expert on Paris.

We took the bus and walked toward Rue Cler. We stopped at a restaurant called Café du Bon Marché. I think it’s supposed to be related to the large mall. While waiting to be seated we saw a group of guys at the bar. One older man was drunk and was playing with the fire extinguisher as if he was going to use it. The other guys were like “Hey, not on my jacket.” One of the guys looked at Heidi and said, “Aide-moi!” in mock desperation. Finally we were being led to our table. I gave a little smirk and a wave as we walked off. The guy said, “Non! Non.” He grabbed my arm and I pulled it out of his grasp. Luckily they were just kidding around and didn’t follow us to the table. I had an amazing salad for dinner. It was called Salade du Marché. Its lower layer consisted of carrot slices, lettuce, cabbage, peas, and couscous. Then on top of that there were thin slices of ham and a chunk of pâté. The veggies had a light vinaigrette on them. It was an amazing salad.

The four of us had an awesome dinner and fun conversation. Then Heidi split off to go home and the rest of us started heading home ourselves. Karuna tried calling Virgile because they had planned to meet up again after dinner. It turned out we were walking along the street right past the door where Virgile’s friend lives. We went up the stairs and into the friend’s apartment to chat for a little. The friend had the same crazy hairstyle as Virgile and was just as adorable. I’ll have to admit my heart was going a little faster while exchanging the welcome bisous. I think the friend’s name was Pierre. We went and sat down while they discussed random things. For some reason the conversation continued in English. Both of them spoke such amazing English. I hope that my French sounds that amazing some day.

It was then time to go. Pierre, Virgile, and Karuna were going to a party. Adrienne and I decided to walk home. We weren’t that far away. It was a pretty quick walk.

Once home, Adrienne and I talked for a little bit. I got online and talked to some people. It was finally 1:00am and I tried to text Karuna about her load of laundry in the washer. Then she walked in the door. We all chatted for a bit and then Adrienne and I got ready for bed and tried to sleep. Actually, it was more like I was trying to stay awake for a while. Adrienne was talking to me and I had to keep myself from falling asleep while she was talking. Karuna had to switch some things between bags so she was up rather late before trying to sleep a bit.