Rockin' the Skirt Suit

Council of Europe: Day 1. I was feeling pretty confident this morning because I managed to make it in the door and through the metal detector without any issues. I met Florence (another woman who works in the Pompidou Group) who showed me to my “office.” Apparently they’re tight on space and don’t have any open offices, so I get to use two different offices on Wednesday and Friday when people aren’t in.

I sent up my Outlook and browsed the COE website. I was too afraid to go on Facebook or Amazon because I feared that somewhere, somebody in some secret room was watching my every key stroke, so I tried to be on my best behavior.

I watched the live stream of the parliamentary debates from the Palais and managed to send an e-mail to D’Amico…which only took my 45 minutes on the French keyboard. (Seriously France, why should I have to shift to put a period at the end of a sentence?)

My boss came in at 11 and asked what I was doing and honestly said, “nothing.” I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing because I had yet to be given a real assignment. It was hard to feel at home in someone else’s office. He suggested that I go to the Palais to watch the parliamentary debates in person since he saw that I was watching them on the computer.

So I headed over to the Palais, rocking the skirt suit with confidence. I maneuvered my way through a series of elevators and passages to the main parliamentary chambers. I was proud of myself until I reached what I thought was the door to get into the viewing gallery only to find a sign that read “Emergency exit, do not open, alarm will sound.” Using my better judgment, I decided not to open it. I panicked and asked a guy in English “Ummm how to get into the gallery?” He chuckled and then pushed open the very same door that I was too chicken to open for fear of evacuating the whole building.

The Parliament was in the middle of their debate on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. It was pretty interesting, though I spent more time playing with the headphones and listening to the translations into ridiculous languages. Also, the people watching is great. Totally caught one guy picking his nose and another woman on YouTube. Come on, you guys are Parliamentarians. What are you doing!!??

I spent the rest of the afternoon running errands. In my attempt to act French, I stopped at a boulangerie and attempted to buy a baguette to eat as I walked. Unfortunately I failed and ended up with some sort of Italian loaf of sorts.

I finally made it to “Simply,” the local supermarket to stock up on food to keep at the Center for lunch. Unfortunately, my game plan to buy only fruits and vegetables failed miserably. I found myself at the cash register with a wheel of Camembert, 3 bars of Toblerone, chocolate mousse cups, and a bottle of Simply’s finest (read, cheapest) white wine.

I’ll do better next time, I promise.

I wandered around for a little bit. It’s the first time it’s been sunny in Strasbourg since we arrived, I figured I should enjoy it. I decided to walk back along the river toward the Center rather than take the tram. But as I was walking, I started realizing that I was passing people left and right, essentially sprinting my way back. Such is typical me--always in a rush, always with a schedule, always running somewhere.

But why was I in such a hurry? I didn’t have to be anywhere for another 3 hours. So I stopped and told myself to chill out and forced myself to walk back at a more leisurely pace, taking it all in.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt so at ease.

Strasbourg has everything I’ve ever wanted in a city. I can’t think of anywhere more beautiful on earth. I’m sorry guys, but I may never come home.