PARIS--The Leftovers (1ere partie)

Hello again my faithful (HA!) blog frequenters (HAH!). 

You know, I don't really know who you are, all of you that are checking in on this sad excuse of a blog. Maybe we should do an icebreaker. Get to know one another. Team building exercise? Audience participation? How about you send me a message or comment below with a request of a stupid thing for me to do in a video?

Well all I can say my friends is that what makes this blog so great is, in fact, it's inconsistency. You never know what I'll say. Me neither! Even right now! 

....and right now, and even now, and..........even still now! you know?

That's why I constantly underwhelm my expectations, and meanwhile continually forget to post things that I actually observe! Gosh, you should see the blog of my mind. It's got hyperlinks, funny video clips, inside jokes, t-shirts with stupid sayings on them, interactive web-design, and maybe, maybe even a little content too. 

But anyway, I apologize. I actually am having a really enriching experience here on exchange. I observe all these hilarious and interesting things every day that are so particular to the world of youth exchange, it's impossible to remember them all. It is usually possible to write them down, but who does that? (Well, me actually..I've gotten a whole lot of funny looks when I whip out my spiral and pen) But sometimes it's just not the moment for that. I would love to take videos of every great cultural moment like I'm living in a reality TV show, but it would probably turn out more like Andy Milonakis, with racist jokes and freestyles filling in the time between when anything actually happened. Which would still be cool I suppose. 

Anyway, back to Paris! Because its already more than a month since I went there, I should really finish my story. Good thing I put my life on hold since I got back, so I don't need to make up for all of the things I've done since!

But this is just something called the Will's Blog Time Sensitivity Theorem which states that in order to properly convey events that have happened, I need to wait at least a few weeks for it to settle into vagueness and philosophical platitudes. In other ways, it's also kind of like Mark Twain's autobiography (which I'd have brought with me but it weighs a ton), which he deliberately withheld from publication for a century just so that all the people he criticized in it would be dead. Okay, so we're not in exactly the same situation, but quand même. In reality I just needed time to write all of these excuse entries, which is exhausting. It's so much easier to blog about not blogging than to actually blog. Blog blog blog. What a funny word. 

GET TO PARIS ALREADY

Alright, alright! I mean, I already did! A month ago!

So for now I will talk about the first day in Paris and part one of THE UNIVERSE IS FREAKY, the first of my three very strange coincidences that happened to me during my trip. 


The first day in the outskirts of Paris was spent-- you guessed right! Sleeping!

To recap, my host brother and I were staying just outside of Paris, 160 m to be exact, in Vanves, at the host aunt and uncle's house. Which looks like this:

(There's Max on the steps.) It was special. Full of very strange and conflicting interior decorating styles. I really couldn't quite grasp what the marriage of art nouveau and Wii consoles was doing for the energy of the space and all that jazz, but I can tell you it was an interesting clash. 

When I first entered the house I immediately had a very strong sense memory of the scary barbershop in town where I used to get my hair cut by an elderly alcoholic when I was little. It hit me like when Harry's scar starts to burn and images of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named flash in his mind. It was intense. The smell of years and years of smoking cigarettes and pipe tobacco inside, the random bottles of whiskey and rum sitting on a chest on the floor, the unusual furnishings and clutter untouched for decades--and of course the tubby cat.

All of this immediately brought me back to that squeaky leather seat, and my perfect bowl-cut being made into zig-zags by an unsteady hand. 

Anyway, I was instantly disgusted and at the same time catapulted into nostalgic bliss. Here's some of the odd items I found on a very art nouveau bureau: 

Yeah. I don't know if you guys understand the atmosphere I'm trying to describe here, but it was special. I think it was the stark contrast that did it for me, between there and my host family's house, which is absurdly clean and proper, almost to the point of uninhabitability--you have to cover any surface just to use it.... 

Anyway, Lillian and Jean-Michel were really, really nice people, and it was very, very generous of them to take us in. I was definitely lucky to get to go to Paris just like that and have a place to stay, eat, and watch grown people play Wii. 

Also, what I found out after the first impressions, is that Lillian is a true museum buff and knows the museums of Paris very well, mostly from having shown countless people like me around. (She's done the Louvre like 12 times. So that means she's probably seen, what, a quarter of it? No, I kid, I kid. It's not really that outrageous. Just a little.)

So after waking up late, feasting on nutella, croissants, baguette, and tea I spent some time taking pictures of the cat. (What did you think I came to Paris for??) No but really. I miss cats. It was great. This cat was like silly putty. No not that. Oobleck. When you pick him up he literally does not budge, but nonchalantly slides through your fingers all limp and such. And he may rest there...

Then Lillian took Max and I on a quick bus/walking tour of some 
Paris must-sees including: 

Hotel de Ville

Notre Dame 

Some Kid Fishing for Euros

(thought: does that negate the wish of whoever threw it in?)   

The Arc de Triomphe (scary spiral straircase!)

(Playing with fisheye on top of the Arc)

Montmartre and Sacre Coeur 

Some fun things I saw:

>A guitarist on the steps of Montmartre giving a little concert, playing "Hallelujah." Lovely, or cliche? You tell me. He had a nice voice though.

(video could not be uploaded)

> More asian people than at CTY

>Still in Montmartre there was a guy who showed up, set down a boombox and started showing off soccer tricks on the edge of a wall. The ball never fell once. He didn't either, which was fortunate. It was a good 10 meters on the other side.  

(Video could not be uploaded)

> Annie, another exchange student! PART ONE OF THE UNIVERSE IS FREAKY
So I was on line to go up the Arc de Triomphe, and Annie was just coming down. Now, granted, it was during the school vacation. And granted, it's a pretty big tourist site. STILL. It was freaky. I mean, the same exact moment? Who knows who I missed coming down the stairs if I had been an hour earlier, or an hour later?!! Anyway, the best part of this story is that at the time, as usual, I was at a complete loss for what her name was or how I even knew her. But I knew that I knew her, so that was what mattered. We both had a minor mind explosion, got some weird looks after exclaiming in English, grabbed a hug and a picture and then went our separate ways. It was so funny! At the end we were sort of awkwardly holding up the line, trying to explain to our respective hosts what was going on... Anyway, for the whole trip after that, her name and relation to me was right on the tip of my brain and driving me crazy. Then when I posted something stupid on facebook like "I saw some girl I knew" she replied and all was well. After I apologized for my wonderful memory skills. 

NEXT UP:
Eiffel Tower! Louvre! Boats! Trains! Screaming tourists! Expensive Kebabs that give stomach aches! Art! Fashion! Celebrity! Money! Power! None of the above!


Stay tuned! I've got some fun videos coming up too, if my editing software decides to work. Well, and if I decide to work too I guess. 


Until then, 
Ciao! 

Affectionately, 

Will