March 7th Friday

I got up around 10:30am. I talked to Kyle briefly online. He had also known Eve and I wanted to check in on him. After the conversation I called Heidi to see if she and Amanda were doing all right. Amanda had known Eve as well. I needed to work but I couldn’t focus on my papers. I was really bothered by this tragedy and I was worried about my friends.

For breakfast I made three frozen cheese crêpes. While I was eating, Adrienne and I talked. We talked for a while about what had happened. Then I waited for Adrienne to get ready. Once she was ready, we ran to the post office. We wanted to buy some boxes but they only had the kinds that were pre-postaged. They were very expensive. I ended up just buying some postcards.

We stopped by the apartment to grab our books before heading to the bank. We thought it was about time for them to have our bank cards. They did! Finally, we’d encountered a success against the French bureaucracy. I withdrew money out of my checking with one card to put it in my French account. We had to use the card at a BNP ATM to activate it and I wanted to have money in it. I wanted to dance for joy after leaving the bank. I might have actually done that…

Our next stop was to Monoprix. We were able to find some neat boxes that we could use to send packages in. I also got some fun Kinder eggs to send to my family.

We arrived at the library and ran into Heidi. She was trying to send a fax so that she could receive her login information for the UNC website. It was a very complicated process. She had to fax in a form requesting the information with two forms of ID attached. Then the school would call her to give her the information. She was having trouble finding a fax. We took her to a nearby store where we’d seen you could send faxes or do some printing.

Finally we got into the library. I sat down and tried to read and research for my papers. I started feeling sleepy and almost fell asleep on top of my book. I thought this would be rude or strange, but since this day I’ve seen many a Sciences Po student passed out on his or her book. They kicked us out of the library at 7:15pm.

Heidi came over to our place with us. She had some chips and salsa with her that she shared with us. We also stopped by the store to buy some more food. We ended up having a little snack dinner of bread, cheese, chips, and salsa. I was dying for some kind of Mexican food so the salsa was delicious.

Heidi left and I decided to make a giant plate of peas for some reason. I guess when my body wants vegetables it won’t wait. Then after a little bit, Amanda S. came over. Adrienne, Amanda, and I got dressed up to go to a bar. It is called the Buddha Bar and is located near the American Embassy. We walked over through Place de la Concorde. It was a very nice night out.

The bar was interesting. It played fun music. The bar had a head of a dragon on one end and its tail on the other. The bartenders were nice enough. They had better be because I bought the most expensive drink of my life there. It had fruit juice, Chambord, a type of whiskey, and some other ingredients that I’m forgetting now. It came garnished with a slice of star fruit. I’m not saying how much it was here. I know that I will always remember the price for the rest of my life. Let’s just say I’m not going to that bar again unless I’m the designated walker or I’m being treated by a very wealthy person. Two middle aged Italian men started hitting on us. I found it amusing to talk to them so I wanted to continue talking, but Amanda needed to go. She had to catch a metro and she had to get home in order to talk to a friend online. We left shortly after.

Amanda took a metro home and Adrienne and I walked home. The Eiffel Tower was sparkling. It was extra beautiful because it was 1:00am. They turned off the general lighting and just had the sparkles going. It made it a breathtaking sight. I enjoyed the walk home. It feels liberating to walk home through Paris at night. I’m lucky to have a roommate so we can walk together in a pair.

I talked to my parents on Skype and went to bed around 3am.