Movin Out

I suppose I'm a little overdue for a blog entry, if we're counting the "norm" as every day. Anyway, I've officially moved out of Marie-Alixe's (I was only staying there til beginning of July) and into an apartment on the sixth floor of an "immeuble" on Boulevard Davout in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. I have to admit, this narrow staircase was pretty dang intimidating when I faced it for the first time, with my huge 50+ lb suitcase. 5 flights. It's really a blessing in disguise, though. The BYU stairs'll be a piece of cake by the time I get there this fall.

This is the view from my window. Le Paris Foot is a bar at the foot of our building. I always wondered where the entrance was to the apartments that were located over stores and stuff. Now I know...

Haha, I get rocked to sleep to the sound of people shouting in the bar and construction out on the street. It's ok, though. I can sleep through noise pretty good. And it adds to the experience. I think it would almost be creepy to have no sound.

This is one of my greatest joys in this apartment. The washing machine. I was really afraid I'd have to go find a laundromat whatever-they're-called. But this is a huge relief. Ya see, you go everywhere on foot here, and it'd be a nightmare to carry laundry around, especially up those 5 flights of stairs. I took my laundry home when I lived on campus last year, and taking it in the bus was a huge pain.

Today I finally went grocery shopping. This whole carrying things on foot all over Paris kinda intimidates me, but I needed to go pretty bad. My roommate, Berangere, had food already and said I could help myself to whatever, but it was the sort of things that you can always find in the kitchen but don't know what to do with... nuts, butter, cheese but no bread, ya know what I mean? That happened all the time when my family was in France and I found myself responsible for my own food. I'd open the fridge and it'd be full, but empty. And these last two days I've sort of in that spot where I wasn't quite sure where the next meal was coming from cause I hadn't had a chance to go grocery shopping (i'd duck into a grocery store and grab something cheap). Anyway, I had a free afternoon today, so I went to a Franprix a couple blocks down, and got some of the essentials. Yogurt, nectarines, lettuce, tomatoes, mousse au chocolat (yes, that's essential), a canteloupe, and then a couple cans of ready-to-eat stuff. At the checkout, a guy who was working there said that I was "magnifique." Haha. I should let my hair down more often.

I have a distant but semi-distinct memory of visiting Versailles when I was small- somewhere around 5 or 6 years old, probably- and tasting the best hot dog I'd ever had, in a baguette. Well, today I had one that puts that award in question. I was half-starving cause it was around 1:30 or so and I hadn't eaten anything since that pain au chocolat I'd had in a hurry for breakfast at 8 this morning. I went to that same boulangerie and looked at their sandwiches, and though they were appealing too, I went for the hot dog because it was inexpensive. But you mustn't let that classic American image (you know, the one where you're at a baseball game and you buy a hotdog from a hawker in the stands, with those soft white buns, Heinz ketchup, French's mustard and some relish on a weiner) pop into your head. Those have their own charm, but this was... mmm... well, it was in a warm perfectly-textured baguette again, with some heavenly half-melted cheese accompanying the sausage. I think it was a weiner, but that was redeemed by the cheese that they used. I'm not sure what it was some sort of gouda or something like that. It was a white, flavorful, hard cheese that expelled the need for sauces. But then again, "la faim est la meilleur des sauces." I think I said that right. It means that hunger is the best sauce.

I went to institute last night. It was fun, got to meet a bunch of people around my age. I made friends with these twins (high school class of '10) from Washington State.  One of them, Michael, is going to BYU, and the other, Eric, to BYU-Hawaii. They've got their priorities in the right places, I must say : )

They'd spent high school learning Spanish, didn't speak a lick of French, and then came to Paris for the summer with their family. They were super friendly. I also met this guy named Obed who's from Mexico City, who's here doing research. I think he's in his mid or late 20s. He was at the dinner that I went to on Sunday, too. I told him all about my buddy who's in the MTC getting ready for his Mexico City mission. (josh lee)

My roommate is Berangere. She has all the opposite political ideas as my dad does. I sometimes have a hard time keeping a straight face when she starts going off passionately about some sort of activist movement or something or other, and I try hard not to imagine her having a conversation with my dad. She's really nice though. She said that she'd had offers from a bunch of different people when she was looking for a roommate, but that she'd said yes to having me in the apartment because she'd done study abroad things in foreign countries too, and she wanted to help make sure that I had good place to stay and had fun, felt comfortable, etc.

P.S. Spencer, I had that feeling today that you'd described the other day, the one where you feel waterlogged but dehydrated at the same time. I forgot to bring a water bottle with me on my excursions today, and I was so thirsty by the time I got back home (especially after that hot dog) that I drained my water bottle twice. My stomach felt full of water, but I was still thirsty. As I write this, I'm still thirsty...