Taming the Beast (Big Blog pt. 2)

This part answers the questions of living in Paris.

I know a question burning in everyone's mind has been, "What did Brandon do for the fourth of July?" This blog seeks to answer that question as well as others like, "Why are the French trash cans just bag holders?" Or "When is Brandon visiting a park?"

Fourth of July I had told a couple students that I was gonna try to check out an American bar in the city to see what they would do. Really I was hoping that everyone was standing around with red, white, and blue American flags singing The Star Spangled Banner (really, I was). One of the students said that their friend new this place and that we could all meet up at 9 to go over there. So far so good.

However, the plan derailed a bit when we met up with the students and found out that they were supposed to meet some others by the Arc d' Triomphe (see earlier post - been there, done that, tried to read the signs) and go to a club. Now those who know me well know that clubbing isn't really my thing, but I'll try anything once (honestly, I was pretty sure that I wasn't going to be hearing the Star Spangled Banner and that bummed me out a little bit) so I went along for the ride. We arrived at the club around 10:15 and waited until 11:15 to get in. It was below the street and cost 20 Euro to get in (not super cheap). Apparently my ticket came with a free drink. Since I am a drink connoisseur, I was stoked (look up Celiac disease on-line and see what I can drink, then imagine me not drinking that, and that will tell you how much I usually drink). Going down the stairs, revealed a dance floor with two platforms in the middle on which crowds of people were dancing, strobe lights, some fog, a bar, video screens behind the bar teaching me a new dance (my favorite move being the "menthol kiss". Twirl your hand around your head and then blow a kiss), and a smoking aquarium in the corner. Apparently, smoking is not allowed in this club (maybe all clubs) so if you wanted to smoke, you had to go to the holding tank. I hung out for a while, then went to the center to strut my stuff. It was really loud. All songs were about 120 bpm. All songs. Around 12:45 I realized that the crowd I was with was planning on hanging longer and I was starting to wear out. Also, I knew that the metro was closing soon. I told everyone (that was still around because somehow we got separated) thank you for the pleasant evening and then made my way home, catching the last train at 1:11 back to the school. I don't even want to know what would have happened if I had missed that one. So yes, I have been to a club in Paris.

French phrases that came in handy:

"You look like the most interesting person in the room!" - Tu me semble comme la personne la plus interessante ici.

"Do you like to dance fast or slow" - Aimez-vous danser le rock ou le slow?

"You have nice eyes!" - Vous avez de beaux yeux!

Benefits of going to the club included me finding out why French trash cans are simply bag holders. This came up when I said that I was surprised at how there is very little security in the metro system against terrorism. Apparently, the French have already thought about that and have decided to remove all trash cans in favor of these green bags. This is so that if a terrorist puts a bomb in the can, those in the city will be able to see the bomb and report it. Not joking. I'm just wondering if I would recognize a bomb by the blinking red light, or the numbers counting down to zero through the green plastic. I don't really care to find out.

Yes, I have been to a park. Tom and I went to the park across the street for a change of pace and worked on the counterpoint there. The park is amazing. Built a long time ago by a city planner by the name of Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann who was commissioned by Napoleon to renovate Paris. Very scenic. Nice pond. Cool staircase (see following picture).



Others maybe wondering why I had the crazy photos in my last blog (those who asked, shout out to Amanda) wanted to see pictures of me in the blog and the composer hair that I've been talking about. This hair was also featured in the staircase shot above. Unfortunately for you this is the last you will see of that hair. The beast has been tamed.

Yesterday I tracked down my blow dryer oasis in this blow dryer wasteland in the form of the electronic store, D'Arty. D'Arty is an electronics store. Really. Only electronics. I walked in and saw more plug-in-able things than I have seen in a long time. An attendant was there to help me (though she didn't really speak English, but was very very nice). I found my blow dryer for only 12 euro (compared to those for 80 to 100 that I found before). Odd thing about this store was that I paid the attendant and then she gave me a receipt. I had to go outside the store to a little counter where they then went into a back room to get my box. It made me think of when stores used to specialize instead of diversify. Kind of fun experience. this store was found in the closest thing to a mall that I have found here. There was a sports store, another crazy store that looked like a Ross kind of place (which does NOT sell electronics. I know because earlier I found a French department store (which I think I blogged about) and they don't sell electronics. weird) and a bowling alley..