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Fish, French Class, and the Fear of Missing Out

One of my favorite photos that I have taken, outside the Gare de Lyon metro station

Bonjour!

Yesterday was my weekly day with six hours of class, with my first class starting at 9 AM and my final class ending at 5 PM. After this long day, I returned home to find that my host cat, who I love dearly, had thrown up on a piece of my bedding. My host mom was away for the night, so I just kinda wrapped it up and put it on the floor of my closet. I was very hungry, so I went to the boulangerie. I somehow managed to butcher the name of the pastry that I wanted so badly that the person behind me ordered for me. But, I returned home with my pastry in hand, and I was able to savor it until my normal dinner time of 7:30 PM.

A dismal and busy day

Since my host mom was away, she had instructed me to choose the food that I wanted from the options she left on the stove and microwave it. There were two fish options, and I normally dislike fish, but I was like "Why not try? Maybe I'll like it cooked the French way?". So, I microwaved some broccoli, some lentils, and some fish. The broccoli was delicious. The lentils were delicious. The fish allowed me to exercise my face's full contortion abilities as I tried to force myself to stomach it.

While I was eating, someone walked into the apartment, said "Bonsoir", and went to the guest room. My host mom has friends and family stay in her guest room virtually every night, but I was surprised and a little alarmed to have someone staying here when my host mom was gone.

View of L'Institut Catholique de Paris

Then, this morning, I thought that I was late to class only to find that all of my classmates were standing outside waiting to find out where we would be fore the day. On Wednesdays, French elementary school students have the day off, and my regular French professor has the day off to spend with her children. While she is gone, a different professor teaches us. I was under the impression that this other professor would just do activities with us, but then, at the end of class, she gave us homework for next Wednesday.

Trying (and failing) to subtly "do the lips" with Olivier Giraud, the performer of How to Become Parisian in One Hour

After the past couple days of minor inconveniences, I went to see the one-man show How to Become a Parisian in One Hour with my study abroad program tonight. It was really funny, with some unexpected off-color jokes. I enjoyed being able to be an audience member instead of a stage tech for a change.

So, anyway, I am doing alright. There is some sort of event for international students in Paris from 11 PM tonight to 5 AM tomorrow that I decided not to attend. I know that it is ~part of the experience~ to sacrifice academics in favor of partying every once in awhile, but it's a Wednesday night and I'm tired and I just want to sleep. At the same time, I always worry about missing out, and that I'll be one of those people who wakes up one day and realizes that they never had any fun.

Best wishes,
Lydia

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