1-30-11 (RM, France; Paris, France)
Last night I was supposed to attend a friend's birthday party at about 8:00pm in East Paris. I left Rueil around 7:00pm to ride the RER and Metro into the city and leave myself enough time to find the restaurant. Unfortunately, I had written down the old address (he moved the party at some point during the week) and couldn't immediately remember the new one. After about twenty minutes of intensive thinking and walking around I was able to recall the street name. Following this mental revelation I proceeded to locate the nearest map at the Metro station. The cross street didn't seem to far away (maybe a few blocks?) so I headed off in the direction of the street. I kept looking for the cross street but never saw it. I decided I must have walked in the wrong direction and headed back to the Metro station to head that way. After another fifteen minutes of walking, I turned back again. Finally, Ben and I had had enough and decided to stop and eat a sandwich. After eating we asked the owner if he knew where the street was. He pointed us across the street and down a few block. After over an hour of walking around searching for this damn street, it was literally 100 feet away the entire evening.
Fortunately for me, showing up late was probably for the best. I hate being stuck at crowded tables with no way to stand up or move around. I guess it makes me nervous, crowded, and uncomfortable. Anyway, people were just getting their meals by the time Ben and I showed up. While people were finishing up with their food I was able to give a prepared toast to my friend David in honor of his birthday. My toast was followed up by presents and cake. It was a great time to arrive at the party!
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Birthday in Paris! 27 years OLD.
1-15-11 (RM, France; Paris, France)
Birthday plans in Paris tonight at a hoppin' British-style pub. Details to follow tomorrow...
Enjoy this birthday song written by NOFX in the meantime (NSFW)
Yay birthdays with new friends! I started out my evening with a quick gin and tonic at the apartment and the proceeded to the Pub in Paris. Things started out kind of slow but eventually all my classmates started to trickle in 1 and 2 at a time. I think I paid for my first drink and that was it. Someone bought me a shot of caramel flavored vodka which was really, really sugary. After that I stuck to British bitters (beer). I think later I had two green apple vodka shots and ended the night with a disgusting beer known as Desperado. It is a lime/tequila flavored beer that seems to be popular here. It is too strange for me to enjoy. However, it came as a free gift from a new friend I met out at the bar.
My new friends in the PEM program are AMAZING! Not only did they bring me a cake with candles, but they collectively gathered money to buy me a nice french dress shirt, tie, and zippo lighter. Everyone smokes here so I thought it would be cool to have a nice lighter as a conversation starter on the street. I had no idea that they were even planning on getting me anything since I had insisted that it wasn't necessary.
I think I'll try and start a database with everyone's names, contact information, and birthdays so that our class can continue to plan events around people's birthdays while they are living here.
Birthday plans in Paris tonight at a hoppin' British-style pub. Details to follow tomorrow...
Enjoy this birthday song written by NOFX in the meantime (NSFW)
Yay birthdays with new friends! I started out my evening with a quick gin and tonic at the apartment and the proceeded to the Pub in Paris. Things started out kind of slow but eventually all my classmates started to trickle in 1 and 2 at a time. I think I paid for my first drink and that was it. Someone bought me a shot of caramel flavored vodka which was really, really sugary. After that I stuck to British bitters (beer). I think later I had two green apple vodka shots and ended the night with a disgusting beer known as Desperado. It is a lime/tequila flavored beer that seems to be popular here. It is too strange for me to enjoy. However, it came as a free gift from a new friend I met out at the bar.
My new friends in the PEM program are AMAZING! Not only did they bring me a cake with candles, but they collectively gathered money to buy me a nice french dress shirt, tie, and zippo lighter. Everyone smokes here so I thought it would be cool to have a nice lighter as a conversation starter on the street. I had no idea that they were even planning on getting me anything since I had insisted that it wasn't necessary.
I think I'll try and start a database with everyone's names, contact information, and birthdays so that our class can continue to plan events around people's birthdays while they are living here.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Birthday Plans Coming Together for Saturday
1-13-11 (RM, France)
Just two more days until my 27th birthday, yay! At first I didn't really like the concept of turning 27 and entering into my "late twenties," but now I realized that age bring wisdom and experience, bring in turn bring respect and admiration. If you are in the Paris area this Saturday and you are a fan of this blog, then please join us at the Frog and Princess Pub in Paris around 18hr30m (6:30pm). It should be a fun time at the pub.
I was very flattered today when a group of my fellow students advised me that they thought I should be the class representative (or at least of of the two representatives.) The best parts of my personality continue to shine through as everyone here is very friendly and outgoing and a real pleasure to talk to. For some reason I feel more confident and willing to share my fun side with these folks and that makes me feel good.
Other than my birthday party this Saturday night, my plan is to make it into Paris early in the day and take in some local art culture. I think I'll try to visit the Musee d'Orsay and maybe just walk around a bit in the city.
Last night's dinner with Geraldine, Maria, Marco, and David was a ton of fun. Marco made Mexican style burritos with beef, sour cream, tomato salsa, peppers, and, of course, queso! We all sat around in Geraldine's room and drank beer, laughed, told jokes, ripped on each other, and performed bar tricks. Geraldine had an especially good trick where she makes a glass disappear under a napkin. She was way too fast after a few beers for me to see it work. The group berated me for about 15 minutes because, apparently, I can't pronounce "Maria" in the proper Spanish accent. Americans don't do the proper "R" sound. They told me to use the tip of my tongue to do an "r" sound just behind my teeth and on the roof of the mouth. I'm getting better, but they all think it hilarious that I can't do it. As if that weren't enough, Geraldine made fun of me because she thought my name was too similar to the Christopher Robin character from Winnie the Poo. I tried to jokingly storm out of the apartment dorm but the door was locked. Instead I collapsed in front of the door and acted like I was crying and curling into a ball.
I was asking Maria about romance in Spain since Americans tend to think of all Spanish speaking countries as very romantic and passionate. I was surprised to hear that guys in Madrid don't really know how to approach women and are often timid to do so. This reminded me of most guys back in the States. Apparently in Brazil however, people just make out with whomever they happen to be dancing with. My other friend, Emelie, told me that in France the guys should just try to take the girl and hope for the best. In other words, they will respond if they are interested and won't if not. I'm not fully able to grasp the concept of this yet since I actually like talking to people first to develop a rapport. Seems strange but, when in Rome, as they say.
All for now, thank you all my readers! Y'all are great and the growing numbers really help inspire me to keep writing.
Song of the Day: Any Way You Want It by Journey
Just two more days until my 27th birthday, yay! At first I didn't really like the concept of turning 27 and entering into my "late twenties," but now I realized that age bring wisdom and experience, bring in turn bring respect and admiration. If you are in the Paris area this Saturday and you are a fan of this blog, then please join us at the Frog and Princess Pub in Paris around 18hr30m (6:30pm). It should be a fun time at the pub.
I was very flattered today when a group of my fellow students advised me that they thought I should be the class representative (or at least of of the two representatives.) The best parts of my personality continue to shine through as everyone here is very friendly and outgoing and a real pleasure to talk to. For some reason I feel more confident and willing to share my fun side with these folks and that makes me feel good.
Other than my birthday party this Saturday night, my plan is to make it into Paris early in the day and take in some local art culture. I think I'll try to visit the Musee d'Orsay and maybe just walk around a bit in the city.
Last night's dinner with Geraldine, Maria, Marco, and David was a ton of fun. Marco made Mexican style burritos with beef, sour cream, tomato salsa, peppers, and, of course, queso! We all sat around in Geraldine's room and drank beer, laughed, told jokes, ripped on each other, and performed bar tricks. Geraldine had an especially good trick where she makes a glass disappear under a napkin. She was way too fast after a few beers for me to see it work. The group berated me for about 15 minutes because, apparently, I can't pronounce "Maria" in the proper Spanish accent. Americans don't do the proper "R" sound. They told me to use the tip of my tongue to do an "r" sound just behind my teeth and on the roof of the mouth. I'm getting better, but they all think it hilarious that I can't do it. As if that weren't enough, Geraldine made fun of me because she thought my name was too similar to the Christopher Robin character from Winnie the Poo. I tried to jokingly storm out of the apartment dorm but the door was locked. Instead I collapsed in front of the door and acted like I was crying and curling into a ball.
I was asking Maria about romance in Spain since Americans tend to think of all Spanish speaking countries as very romantic and passionate. I was surprised to hear that guys in Madrid don't really know how to approach women and are often timid to do so. This reminded me of most guys back in the States. Apparently in Brazil however, people just make out with whomever they happen to be dancing with. My other friend, Emelie, told me that in France the guys should just try to take the girl and hope for the best. In other words, they will respond if they are interested and won't if not. I'm not fully able to grasp the concept of this yet since I actually like talking to people first to develop a rapport. Seems strange but, when in Rome, as they say.
All for now, thank you all my readers! Y'all are great and the growing numbers really help inspire me to keep writing.
Song of the Day: Any Way You Want It by Journey
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