January 18th Friday

Knowing that it didn’t take us long to get to the workshop and that it was later, we got up at 8:00am. We were going to try to be brave and go to the presentations on five hours of sleep. I had some of my 3 chocolate Muesli and a strawberry yogurt.

We got to the building and watched people come in for the workshop. They had another welcome coffee set out on the table. I wanted to stay awake so I went ahead and grabbed a little coffee. I poured a lot of milk and sugar in. I actually liked the drink and even though I couldn’t taste the coffee that much, I was worried. I don’t want to get hooked on coffee.

We settled in and the presentations started at 9:35am. This section was called “A New Public/Private Boundary” and addressed private actors in the EU. I was able to stay awake through the presentations. I ended up doing some class reading in the in between time.

Adrienne was feeling really tired so at the coffee break she went home to sleep. I ended up having an orange juice and staying for the next section before lunch. I didn’t always understand the entire presentation but I still enjoyed attending.

I left between 11:30 and 12 to go home. On my way home I was noticing all of the interesting door handles. I started taking pictures of them and decided to start collecting pictures of strange door handles. In certain places I’m sure they can get really weird. I tried to hurry home because it was drizzling on me.

I got home and made some lunch for myself. I went ahead and made a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Then to combat my unhealthiness I sliced some tomato and cucumber and put balsamic vinegar on the pieces. I had a few madeleines for dessert.

I played on my computer for a little while. I was really tired so I decided to take a nap. I got into bed and slept until about 5:30pm. I set an alarm so that I wouldn’t oversleep.

Adrienne and I woke up for a little bit. It was getting near dinner time so we tried to figure out what we wanted. We ended up making some curly pasta noodles with marinara sauce. We added some chicken to the sauce and it actually turned out pretty good. Adrienne got a baguette to go with it. It was very yummy.

After dinner, I was still in my pajamas from my nap. I got a text message from Carlos that was half in English and half in French. Basically Carlos, Yannick, and Katharina were going to go out to a club called Favela Chic and he wondered if I would like to go. I debated and noted the fact that I was already in my comfy pajamas but finally replied that I would come.

I got dressed up in a new gray skirt, a nice black shirt, and my high heeled boots. I was kind of worried about being bothered by guys on my way there but I shrugged it off. I met the group a little after midnight by the République metro stop. We went down the street to the club. The place was very interesting. It’s Brazilian themed and is a restaurant by day. Tonight it was quite packed with people. It made it very hot and sweaty there because they turned off the air. Now that France has a no smoking law, they don’t have to pump in fresh air. They take this law very seriously too. I saw at least five people light up and then get forcibly removed from the club by a large bouncer. They didn’t mess around. The guy would walk up, grab the people by the arm, and start pulling them out. He might stop long enough to give a quick reason as to why they were being kicked out.

I had fun with the Euromasters. When I paid to get in I received a free drink card. I got a mojito and it was very good. The drinks were expensive so I didn’t buy any more after that.

I was lucky enough to only have one stranger talk to me. I couldn’t ever understand his name. He was Italian and speaking to me in French. It was hard to understand him over the pounding music. He directed the shouted conversation toward French cuisine and asked if I liked it. When I replied in the affirmative, he offered to take me out to get some. I politely declined. When he asked why I invented some fake boyfriend back in the states. He eventually drifted away.

The only other weird part of the night was the strange text messages I received from Alberto. He kept asking me if I was awake. I told him I was but couldn’t talk on the phone. I asked if something was wrong. He said he was fine but he kept asking me if I was awake. Finally, later in the night, he told me that he’d gotten locked out of his house and his roommate was asleep “but I’m fine now.”

The club finally kicked us out at 4:00am. We went out and walked around the area debating what we could do. We had to stay out until at least 5:30 because that’s when the metro starts running again. We walked for a bit while Carlos fumed over the injustice of the club closing so early. That would never happen in Spain. There you can stay out until 7or 9 in the morning. I was glad I understand Spanish because I would have missed the amusing swearing.

We finally ended up going to a bar called Les Tonneaux (The Barrels). The crowd was much older there. I was surprised to see so many adults beyond college age there. I went ahead and ordered a Coke. It came in a neat bottle with a Coca Cola glass. I was pretty psyched. I wasn’t psyched about the large woman who approached me at the bar. “Ça va mademoiselle?” I got a big creepy vibe so I merely muttered “Oui ça va.” Before moving closer to my friends.

Finally it was late (or early) enough for the trains to start running. We dropped Yannick off at the metro and started walking toward Châtelet. Carlos walked Katharina home and I went to catch the metro. I was getting on the metro at 6:00am. I was surrounded mostly by people beginning their day, not ending it. I pulled out my iPod and listened to music for the ride home. The sun still hadn’t risen by the time I came home. My feet were killing me.

I found Adrienne still awake. She had been playing games with her sister online since I had left. We both got ready for bed and chatted a bit. I even got to talk to Tom online. I finally went to bed at 7:30am.