Day 4

Forget Day 3, it is already a blur in my mind. I just remember being upset with silverware and eating ice cream. Speaking of which, in Paris, when you order a medium sized cone of Gelato, the server will literally sculpt it into a freaking ROSE. I was expecting a scoop, not some amazing piece of art. Hell, I'm not upset with it, but rather impressed in a insulted way. To say, wow France is just THAT cool, the hell with scoops, they just aren't good enough. I really did wish I had a picture to put up of the Gelato to show it in all its glory. We're definetly going to go back, so I'll make sure to get a picture then.

Right now, its late as hell, AGAIN. Why? Because I'll never get use to the longitude of this place. We're walking to the school off of the metro looking up. The sun is still relatively out, roughly similar to it being 7pm in the summer. I ask, hey what time is it? My answer is nine freaking thirty at night. All the cafes are closed and the grocery store closes in half an hour. Still, its actually kind of nice having the sun out that much longer. You just feel like you get more out of a day, but your dead tired by the end of it all.

I really enjoy how grocery stores is something you go to at the end of the day to buy some food for dinner or for breakfast the next day. Its something I've never done in the states. I've always went to grocery stores and stocked up on food I'd eat over the week or month even. Here, cafes are like 7-11s, everywhere, except of course, the food and drinks are one thousand times better. For the most part, depends on your reason to go to 7-11.

I've only been here for four days and in under 3 days managed to learn how to succesfully navigate the city on my own confidently without any worry on where I am going. John really branded the navigation of the city into our brains and this handy travel book helps out as well. I feel like after the end of this trip I could probably go to most places and blend in quickly so I am not just another tourist guy. The one thing that I just can't get use to is actually the language. I know phrases and what not, and even can understand a few things, but when I actually have to speak in some way I either lock up completely or answer them in Spanish. I have NO idea why Spanish flys out of my mouth. I don't even speak it that well. For example, today a woman was trying to ask me to help her reach a can on a shelf in the grocery store. What I wanted to say is "I don't speak french." "Do you speak English?" However, what came out of my mouth was: "I would like to no french." She gave me a confused look and realized I was American and just gesture that she couldn't reach the cans. My deadbeat brain finally got those gears moving and I realized what was going on. After helping her out, I proceded to accepting her thanks by saying "Thank you" myself instead of "Your welcome" in French. I pretty much failed hardcore, but it was funny now that I think about it.

I think my roommate is itching to use his computer so I'll end it with that. More to come and next post I hope to have some pictures of things. We've just been getting back to the dorms really late in the past 4 days so its been tough to keep things rolling.

-Nikita