Cher Paris,

MERCI.

Paris is DEAD

There is quite literally no one in this city. Okay, that's a gross exaggeration, but let me put it this way, I had to walk to five (yes, FIVE) different pharmacies today before finding one that was open. I was about to give up after number four, but something inside of me told me that it's not physically possible to have no open pharmacies in a city. Where are these Parisians getting their perscriptions?! Oh wait, they're not... they're all on vacation in the south.

This week has presented me with a strange combination of laziness and stress. Did you see that damn ticker on the left of this page? TWELVE DAYS left in Paris. That's it! I figured with two weeks to go I should probably start packing my stuff. I wanted to make sure that everything that I have accumulated in the past year (which is an astonishing amout of affairs) would fit into my four suitcases. Moving is always an unpleasent experience, made twenty times more so when constrained to Air France baggage restrictions. When I checked the Air France website I learned to my dismay that I am only allowed to check two suitcases, which means that my lovely backpack will be hanging out in Paris until I come back to get it.

I read an article in the New York Times today which discussed the newly accepted life stage of "emerging adult", a stage that one goes through during their twenties. Apparently us new millenium twenty somethings like to put of adulthood as long as possible in the self indulgent hope of "finding ourselves"-- or at least that's how someone put it. We don't want to get jobs, spouses, have children, or buy houses. Apparently we just want to move to Europe and have a glorious, soul-searching helluva time. Given my current lifestyle, I had to laugh while reading the article.

Though I can't lie, sometimes I wish I had less choices as far as careers and graduate school programs are concerned because the world of endless possibilites is extremely exhausting, and it's hard to deal with all of these choices from across the Atlantic. Sometimes I think it would be easier to live the traditional way and spend no time figuring out who you are...  but then I remember how much I have profited from this year abroad, how much it has changed me, and how boring life would be without more similar experiences.

a little somethin' somethin'

28 days-ish. Currently in Bretagne enjoying the best crepes in the world. I ate lobster and oysters for the first time. Enjoyed the lobster, not so much the oyster. These next 28 days are going to go by so fast. This most incredible, LIFE CHANGING year is about to end.

I'll update about vacation more when I'm, well, not on vacation. I feel far too lazy right now!

Sorry for the neglect!

It's been more than two weeks since I last updated, and if anyone cares, I am deeply sorry for my apparent laziness, I've just been enjoying my last couple of months here!

Next week is my last week working full-time for the American family because they are moving back to America after four years in Paris. Then I'm off to Britany with the coolest and nicest Parisan lady ever... her and her son are in Philedalphia right now and she just sent me a text message to say "Hi from America, Courtney!" I'll definitely have to stay in touch with her. I'm also trying to upload a super cute video that I took of her son while he was playing with blocks. It may or may not work.

Boy oh boy could I use a break from this city... especially after the kind of week I had, which was filled with personal dilemmas about a job in Paris for next year (which I decided against), and a failed attempt to watch the Bastille day fireworks at the Eiffel Tower (and by failed I mean that I listened to the fireworks from the back of an ambulance... don't worry, I was the support rather than the victim and everyone is o.k.).

To top off my experience with French beaurocracy, I'd like to remind my faithful readers that after TEN months in this country I have not yet recieved any information from the social security office about my medical insurance (which I was supposed to recieve within the first three months in France). Secondly, for some insane reason I decided to attempt depositing cash into my bank account at my bank (the exact branch where I opened my account) at 4:00 on a Wednesday. I so innocently believed that I would encounter no problems doing so, but apparently (and with no explination) it is not possible to deposit money into my bank account at 4:00 on a Wednesday, or so I was told by the bank employee who looked like he was counting down the minutes until the end of the day and his next cigarette. Ulitmately, I would just like to say that I have yet to have a successful experience at the bank!

Hmm, what else has happened since I last graced this blog with recounts of my adventures? Oh, I watched the World Cup final between Holland and Spain at the "Fifa Fan Fest" by the Eiffel Tower. It was NUTS. There were people everywhere and my minor case of claustrophobia definitely reared its ugly head. When the game hit overtime we decided to walk away from the crowd and ended up sitting in the middle of the road outside of a cafe to watch the rest of the match on their flat screen tvs. About 30 people joined on the street, and every so often we reluctantly let a car pass by. Finally Spain won and we went home! Go Spain!

So I've uploaded a few pictures from work and sitting in the street (don't think the video of the cute kid worked but maybe I'll try again later). Oh, and FYI I was waiting on a metro platform and I saw the guy who plays Natalie Portman's blind boyfriend in the movie "Paris t'aime". My first spotting! I'd much rather see him than Lindsey Lohan.

Sorry I've been neglecting you, blog! But now that I'm not living the fantasy life of 12 hour work weeks and sticking around Paris (aka no traveling) and all of my friends are leaving one by one it makes things seem less interesting. Saying goodbye to Alexis last week was hard because her and Julie were my first and closest friends here and now they're both MIA. I'm starting to get really excited to come home!

Hot tamale: the Parisian chaleur

The passing of time has given me a painful whiplash. During the third week of June I suddenly became busier than I have been since before graduating from college. My 50+ hours-a-week of nannying and babysitting is making me loads of money, and is thankfully keeping me busy enough to not spend it all (though I did take advantage of the twice-a-year sales that started on Wednesday). My babysitting skills have become in such high demand that I may start raising my prices! And I'm digging the benefits: moms giving me old purses (as in really chic French purses) and buying me Bisquick and syrup in Belgium.

The heat. The heat in Paris is an unbearable 90 degrees. If it weren't for the four showers that I take every day I'd probably have already died of heat stroke on the metro. Speaking of which, I feel like I'm descending into the depths of Hell every time I enter the Metro's mysterious underground tunnels. I spend a couple of hours a day trapped inside of the barely ventelated train cars drowning in a pool of my own sweat and smelling the pools of sweat and overpriced perfume coming from other passangers. Welcome to the city of love.

Any freetime I've had I have spent trying to make the most of these past two months and taking naps to catch up on sleep (oh, and avoiding the metro). A couple of nights ago, us Paris leftovers went to a bar on a boat in the river to celebrate our friend Marni's last week in Paris and to say goodbye.

I plan on spending this fourth of July weekend recuperating from a long couple of weeks, watching football, and celebrating the birthdays of two of my close friends, Kelsy and Jen!

Here are a couple of pictures from when I took the girls who I nanny to a park in Boulogne (just outside of Paris) on a beautiful day!