Hand me my beret, yo.

Ah, Paris.

It’s all so cliché and I love it. I walked down the street eating a croissant today. A French woman was rude to me when I asked her a question in English. The men have long, greasy hair and they stare at you until you look away. The metro is crowded and the ashtrays are plentiful and the pigeons will crap on your foot. I found Moulin Rouge surrounded by sex shops and peep shows less than a mile from my hostel. Then I bought a baguette and smoked a cigarette and pretended that I didn’t look like a tourist with my over-stuffed purse and tattered jeans. It was great.

Last night at my hostel I met a Canadian named Soriah and a Mexican named Laura. Together, we make an American sandwich. Haha. Soriah speaks fluent Spanish and Laura doesn’t speak much English, so Soriah had to be Laura’s translator for most of the day. The three of us took the metro to the Eiffel Tower at 10:00 p.m. and I ate a chocolate crepe while we watched the tower glisten and glitter. It was really romantic in a hanging-out-with-two-complete-strangers kind of way.

This morning we work up early and Soriah, Laura and I tried to go to the Musee D’Orsay but it was closed for reasons explained over the loudspeaker in French. Instead we toured Notre Dame, Luxembourg Gardens, and Museo Rodin, home of The Thinker.

I booked a few more nights at the hostel, so now I’ll be here until the 10th. This afternoon Laura left for Madrid, where she’s studying, and said that I’m welcome to come and stay with her when I leave Paris. That’s too good an offer to pass up, so I think my next destination will have to be Spain.

Additional random tidbits:

- I ate a cheeseburger for the first time in years today. It was the only thing that I recognized on the menu and I was hungry. Not knowing how to read French and being somewhat of a vegetarian isn’t an agreeable mix.

- saw a giant cockroach skitter underneath a set of shelves at the grocery store this morning. Didn’t have a heart attack or anything. Mom, you would be so proud.

- my clothing is already starting to fall apart. Two new elbow holes in my favorite black hoodie, burgeoning hole in the toe of my sock. Keep in mind that this seems like a lot when you only have three pairs of socks and two hoodies.

My laptop keeps crapping out and these French keyboards suck beyond belief, so future posts might lessen in frequency after today. Still checking email frequently though. Keep writing. I miss you guys a ton.