August 1-3

I got the idea from Reyes to look for a language exchange online -- find someone with whom to speak in French in exchange for helping him with his English. Since I advertised an English/French exchange, I got at least 10 responses in 24 hours. In my ad I'd said I wanted someone about my age. On Friday, I had two meetings. The first one went really well. The guy was very nice and super interesting -- he's French of Portuguese/Gypsy descent, a convert to Islam, and he lived in Malaysia for six months and now speaks English with an Asian accent. When I asked him what made him become Muslim, he said (in French) "It was destiny -- like falling sick or falling in love, I fell Muslim."

Optimistic from my first meeting, I was rather disappointed with my second. The guy showed up and he was 42 -- and not like a cool 42, and gnarly looking 42. He'd read my ad but figured he'd try showing up anyway to see if I cared about his age. It was rather awkward, but I tried to make the best of it. To make matters worse, he offered to take me around Paris on his moto (not sure what this is in English? It's like a motorcycle, but not exactly) or in his car to make our meetings "less sad for me." Needless to say, I emailed him afterward and told him it wasn't going to work out.

I went out to dinner with seven friends for my birthday, and had a wonderful salmon salad. The waiter, since he heard it was my birthday, put a candle in my ice cream and gave one of my friends free desert. After dinner, everyone left but Vanessa and Annie. We went down to the Seine, on the way stopping to watch break dancers. A guy was on the river playing covers with his guitar for no reason, so we chilled for a little. Vanessa wanted to sing, but couldn't think of any songs.

Aurélien offered to get us into a club for free. We sang in the metro waiting for him, Annie trying to be confident, me trying to sing loud and harmonize while matching Vanessa's voice. The club was really cool -- it was a boat with a dance floor inside and tables on the deck. It played a wide variety of music instead of just the normal generic techno. We danced for a long time, and then Annie and Vanessa had to leave to catch the metro. Aurélien had offered to walk me home since he was sleeping at his grandmother's that night, so I stayed.

I hung out with Aurelien and his friends for the rest of the night. They were super interesting, nice people. I was really proud of myself for being able to converse with them -- young French people are really hard to understand because they talk really fast and use a lot of slang. They kept asking me questions about being American and what I thought of the French. My favorite part was when "Summer Love" from "Grease" was playing and they asked me if I could understand the words, because they couldn't. One of them proceeded to imitate what English sounds like to the French ear ... Hilarious. I wish I had recorded it.

I told Aurélien I wanted to leave around 2:15 or so, and he said we would leave as soon as he said goodbye to his friends. "Saying goodbye" turned into chatting for about an hour and a half, followed by a 40 minute walk home, so by the time we got home it was 4:25. I had to get up at 5:30 to catch a train for Strasbourg. I was wired and between getting ready and trying to settle down I ended up sleeping for ten minutes before leaving the house.

I slept on the train, but the ride was short and I was still completely exhausted. I got to Strasbourg and my brain was not functioning -- I spent several minutes thinking I'd lost my map because I'd forgotten I'd put it in my purse pocket a few minutes earlier. I wandered around for a bit, then tried to sleep on a park bench. That didn't work, so I wandered around some more, getting lost over and over. Strasbourg is pretty, but there's not much to do, especially when you're by yourself. I spent most of my day there sleeping on the grass in front of the train station.

Sunday was Mont St Michel, which was much nicer because I'd slept and I only had 6 hours there instead of 11. It was absolutely beautiful, and there's not much to say that the pictures won't say better.