“Sprite” in French is not pronounced “Spreeté”

I learned this the hard way at Francesca’s last night. Francesca’s is a cheap pasta place in town that has now become a favorite—since we had dinner there two nights in a row. Friday night I ate there with Sue, Mika and Lex. We spent almost two hours there talking about everything—mostly Coplin and our internships, and oh yeah—how freaking ridiculous it is that we’re living in France.

We were obnoxiously loud and never stopped laughing, but I loved it. Best line? Me shouting “No one is attracted to Asian men!” just as an Asian guy walked into the place. No worries, he was French and probably didn’t hear me anyway, right? WRONG. He spoke perfect English.

I spent Saturday morning by myself exploring the centre ville and doing some shopping at Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. Shopping in France is just so overwhelming and I didn’t have any patience to rummage through racks, try and convert my size to the weird 30-something European sizes, and then ask in French to try something on. So I settled for some dress socks and stockings.

I hit up Monoprix to pick up some hand sanitizer because my poor little 3 oz. airline approved bottle of Purell is reaching its end. Unfortunately, I mistakenly bought hand soap instead of hand sanitizer. Not entirely my fault! I used the word cues on the bottle like “gel lavant” and “action antibactérienne” as a sign that it was hand sanitizer. I was so excited when I got home to use it that I squirted an extra large helping out of the bottle, only to find myself in a sticky mess when I realized it was soap. Damn stuff didn’t even smell good!

Spent the afternoon at Café Brant—where I now consider myself a regular—finishing up my internship application for Teach For America with the help of Em. Again, went back for Francesca’s for some delicious Vodka penne with Sue and Lex. Lots of laughs…a good time as always.

Came home to prepare for an epic night out with everyone. We ended up going to a club called “Salamandre” which had some interesting musical selections and quite the crowd. Picture awkward French high schoolers with no dancing abilities mouthing the words to “You’re the One That I Want” and then equally as awkward 40 + couples inappropriately grinding to “Sexy Chick.” It was like a bad nightmare. But all the SU kids took the stage by storm.

I went for a long walk by the Council and the European Parliament this morning, blasting Sugarland and the Dixie Chicks on my ipod. Quite the combination of sights and sounds if you ask me. I’m at Brant now just chilling, doing some work, and browsing flights. Nou Nou is making traditional crêpes alsacienne tonight. DELICIOUS! Up early tomorrow to be at the Council of Europe at 8am to get my photo taken for my badge. Nbd. Just kidding, I’m beyond pumped!