January 11th Friday

We woke up at around 10:00am and called Mme Wessel to confirm our meeting with her later. We were going to go see an apartment that sounded very interesting to us. I fortified myself on Muesli chocolate cereal. We got ready and left on the metro. We took the 12 line to the 10 and took that to the west of Paris. Then we got on the 9 line and took that to its terminus at the southwest corner. We then took a bus across the bridge into Sevres. It was drizzling slightly but Adrienne and I were immediately taken with the town. It was very charming and seemed so peaceful after being in Paris for a week. We continued up some stairs to the Brancas street. The apartment was located in what looked like a small peach colored house. We met Mme Wessel and she showed us around.

The apartment is 50m² and has separate bedrooms. The windows look out over the garden and toward the opposite hill. It’s a good price and is very nice. Mme Wessel was very nice and answered all of our questions. After hearing stories from some friends we made sure to ask that we could get receipts for payments as well as papers for the Carte de Séjour. She was very accommodating. I would enjoy being her tenant. The house is amazing. It was built in 1850 and Mme Wessel’s living space has the original furniture. It’s set in a very calm location.

After going over all of our questions with Mme Wessel, we headed out and decided to look at the town of Sevres. We were able to find many cheap Chinese restaurants. We also checked out which banks were there and where the grocery stores were. Everything seemed very convenient. We made our way through the rain and finally started heading back toward the metro stop. We stopped in at a boulangerie and picked up some sandwiches for lunch. I was starving. I ended up taking a curry chicken ciabatta sandwich. The lady there pressed it and heated it up for me. She was very friendly. Something about being a baker must make people happy because I haven’t met a cranky one yet. Perhaps they get to work out their frustrations on the dough.

I hungrily devoured my sandwich and protected it from the rain under my umbrella. I finished it before we made it to the metro station. When we were crossing the bridge to get to the metro, we stopped and looked back at Sevres. I was trying to picture living there. It looked amazing and we were trying very hard not to decide too quickly. Everything seemed like it was perfect. But I just didn’t feel like I could see us living there. Something didn’t feel very final about it. I had a feeling we were going to find another offer.

We continued on our way and traced our way back on the metro. It took us about 50 minutes to get to our house. It would definitely be a commute. We got home and looked online to see if there were other offers. Mme Wessel wanted an answer soon and we wanted to at least see other apartments. We found some other things that we might go for.

It turned out my mom was home so I got to call her and talk to her. I told her about the apartment we had just visited. I was quite excited. She seemed excited with me. It was good to discuss the apartment as well as others we were looking at.

I played on my computer a bit before realizing that I needed to leave soon to meet up with people for the party. I got ready and called Amanda to see if she was still going. I wanted to make sure that if something happened, I wouldn’t be the only person standing by the metro station. She told me she was coming.

I took the metro up to the Abbesses stop. There, I got off and saw that they had an elevator to the top. There was a line and it seemed like it was taking a while. I decided to continue onward and just take the stairs. How bad could they really be? Sissies.

I found myself several spiral flights later, puffing and gasping my way up the never-ending stairs. A man was climbing in front of me and looked back to make a face. He wasn’t enjoying the climb either. I gasped a breath and nodded. I finally emerged from the metro and decided I found out why French people are so skinny. I found Alberto and Matt waiting for me. I was running late and felt bad for making them wait. Then I found out that everyone else was late too. It was a half hour before we had everyone with us. The group included Alberto, Matteo, Katharina, Sara, Leo, Amanda, and myself. We decided to look around and found an interesting restaurant. I can’t remember the exact name but I know it had Soleil in it. We settled down in a very comfortable and homey setting. Something about it felt slightly new age too.

We ordered a bottle of wine for the table. It was the red wine of the month. I didn’t catch the name but I knew that it was made in the southwest of France. Then I had the Assiette du Fromager which was a cheese plate with 4 kinds of cheese. There was goat cheese, one like camembert, one that was a more crumbly mild cheese with herbs in it, and another creamy cheese that might have been brie. It also came with a salad dressed in a light vinaigrette. For some reason I also had a glob of butter in the middle of my plate. The whole plate was delicious. I even got the big plate so that I could share. Then for dessert, Matteo and I shared a tarte aux fruits. It had an interesting combination of something chocolate, creamy, and cinnamon, with apples on top. It was a good and interesting flavor but kind of unexpected.

The waitress we had was very fun and kidded around with us a lot. I really enjoyed the dinner. I got to go out and have a great dinner with six other people, only two of whom I knew before. I’m pretty excited about getting to know people better.

We made our way by metro to the party that the universities put together. We entered and found that the age group was much younger than us. There was a bar and seating area in the front. Then behind a door there was a room that looked like a disco studio and high school prom had a baby. There were colored lights and silver streamers everywhere.

We ended up staying for a little and then deciding to go somewhere else. We got on the metro and asked around. We ended up at a place called Café Oz (short for Australian). This place was packed. There were just people jammed wall to wall. It was impossible to push through everybody. We finally found a corner that was slightly less populated and hung out there for the rest of the night. Another crazy feature was that the bar had tables of various heights for people to dance on. Some people were definitely dancing. I will not tell you who though. There is no photo evidence at least.

Eventually it was time to go home. The metros were no longer running as it was 4:30am. Sara, Katharina, and I ended up walking a bit together. Then Sara walked most of the way home with me. I got home a little after 4:45am and ended up waking up Adrienne accidentally. She had to get up for something anyway so we ended up talking for a bit. I didn’t get to bed until almost 6am. It was a pretty fun night and I’m looking forward to more.