April 23rd Wednesday

I got up at 9:00am and had my usual cereal for breakfast. Adrienne had walked to class before us so I walked to class with Karuna. We were a little late.

The class was quite interesting. It was about assisted reproduction. I’ve never talked so much in class as I did that day. I’ve always found the topic to be very interesting. I was thinking that the topic would be a good one to write a paper on. The idea that freaked me out the most is that some people have gathered an egg or semen from their dead spouse to create a child after he or she is dead. That was just a weird idea to me. They said that it puts into question the ideas of inheritance because the kid would biologically be an offspring but they were conceived after death. It’s a slippery slope of morals and science.

After class I walked with Amanda and Adrienne near St Michel. We were pretty hungry so we went to a crêperie café for lunch. I had a menu that came with a ham and cheese crêpe, a pain au chocolat, and a Coca Light. We sat in the back and had lunch. Adrienne and I filled Amanda in on our housing dilemma.

Once we’d finished lunch, we went to the SNCF boutique to get train tickets. We had been planning a trip to Reims. We had to wait a bit but we got a very nice woman who helped us. She advised us on which trains would be the best to take. We got our tickets.

Next we went to a cheap store called Troifoirien. I bought a big bowl that I could use for ramen, some goggles, a swimming cap, and some other fun things. It was always fun to see the cheaper stores. Amanda went home and Adrienne and I stayed in the area a little bit longer. We went to a very big bookstore on the Boulevard St Michel. I found the Nana manga there. I bought volumes 17 and 18 for Maya. When we left the store, it was raining outside. We’d thought of maybe walking home but we decided to take the RER home instead.

When we got home we put all of our stuff away. I got on my computer and avoided reading for a little while before getting down to it. Then we decided to make some dinner. We had a frozen mixture that had chicken with mushrooms and rice in a white cream sauce. It’s one of my favorites. While we ate we watched an episode of Smallville online.

After, I got to talk to my mom on Skype. I was telling her about the plan to go out that night. Karuna came in and wanted the information on where to go. So I simultaneously talked to my mom, got information from Luis, and gave that information to Karuna. Finally she left and I was able to finish my conversation. Once we’d finished, I got ready for the party.

I walked to Luis’s apartment. There were a few people there already when I arrived. I believe the people there were Manu, Tobias, Julia, Jeannette, Luis, and me. Karuna came in a bit after me. We sat around and talked for a while. A few people had brought some bottles of wine. I was still getting to know some of the people there.

Eventually it was time to go to the Sciences Po soirée. We walked there from Luis’s apartment. It was very close to the Place de la Concorde. We just had to walk north and slightly east. We ended up at 8 boulevard de la Madeleine which housed Madeleine Plazza. We had to wait in line outside before going in. While waiting we were talking about how we would need to get tickets. Then, a group in front of us turned around and said excitedly, “Oh you need tickets!” They had some extra ones to sell. Luckily we were able to get them for the reduced price. It all worked out great.

We went in and some stopped at the coat check before going downstairs. It was an averaged sized club and the dance floor was packed with people. On the right, there was the bar and the cash register. We had to buy a ticket to get a drink. These were the cheapest drinks I would see in all of Paris so I bought a few tickets. My drink for the night would be whiskey and coke. It was very hot and humid in the club. The music was once again not my favorite but we danced anyway. Randomly they would pump stage smoke into the air and then shoot laser lights through it. The bright flashing lights made me sneeze. It’s often a reaction I have to bright lights or sunlight. It made me laugh but it was also frustrating because I kept sneezing.

Everyone seemed to be having fun. We found Carlos in the club. It was fun to just dance around with my new classmates. Eventually I got tired and my feet began hurting. I was ready to go home. I looked around for Karuna so I could tell her I wanted to leave. She was otherwise occupied with a French guy on the couch. I decided to just tell all of the others in our group that I was leaving.

Julia and I left the club around 2:30am. I wanted to walk Julia home but she lived in the opposite direction. I was walking home by myself but the area was very safe and it wasn’t a far walk at all. I got home and found Adrienne still awake. We talked for a while. I got a text from Karuna asking where I was and I told her I’d gone home.

I was in bed around 3:30am or so. Karuna came home after that but Adrienne let her in.