"Europeanners"

Hey there!

Today's post will be an assortment of unrelated topics, all of which I want to tell you about but none of which are big enough to deserve their own space.

Topic one: The Metro

The metro is one of the best public transit systems I have ever experienced (second only to the Underground). It surpasses the Chicago El system in every way possible. There are stops everywhere and wait times for trains are rarely over 4 minutes- but you'll know how long you'll be waiting thanks to the digital sign that tells you how long until the next train, and then how long until the next train after that. The newer trains have a digital map inside the train cars: On this map there is a small light underneath each stop, the light blinks when you have arrived at that stop, and the light is extinguished once you have passed that stop. Oh and have I mentioned the speed? It's about one minute transit time in between each stop on the metro.

The Metro is a funny sort of place. You are allowed on the metro, but your personal space has to walk and meet you at your next destination. On the metro your entire cabin may be serenaded with a man playing a guitar and not asking for money, a couple with a stereo may try to start a rave in your cabin, or a homeless person may board and announce very politely that he is poor and isn't being helped by the State and if you would be so kind he would gratefully accept any donations you may have. People-watching on the metro is really enjoyable. Today I saw a boy about my age on his cell phone leaning against the wall of the train with a very tall open Paprika Lays Potato Chips tube in one hand, and tucked under his arm he was carrying a small laptop- with no case. The other day I saw the coolest looking family. The dad had a handsome face with a bit of stubble and was around 40, he was tall, slender and extremely french looking. He had a tattoo on his neck with someone's name on a banner wrapped around a big flower. It was cool looking. The mom was a bit younger with long blonde hair and a trench, and the daughter, who was around 5, was wearing the cutest little dress with little boots on. I have seen women and men of every ethnicity and of every level of wealth. It's really enjoyable.

Topic two: Au Vieux Campeur

Today I went on a quest to find a sleeping bag (to help with my bed bug problem). After googling "Paris camping stores" and then using google maps, I found where I wanted to go. The only problem was that the blog I found that suggested Au Vieux Campeur warned that, although this chain carries everything an outdoorsman could ever dream of, because of limited real estate in Paris, Au Vieux Campeur had about 50 different boutiques sprinkled around the 6 block radius they had directed me to. All of them carrying different things. I took the metro and walked to the address I got from the internet. At that address was a pharmacy and a few shops, but none of them were the camping store. I went inside one of the shops and asked for directions. In a mix of french and english she said I needed to walk two blocks one direction, take a right, and then walk for 5 more minutes. I walked that direction and almost immediately after turning right on the correct street, passed by an Au Vieux Campeur. Inside this one all they sold was skis, but the doorman directed me to the one with "sacs de couchage" (thanks google translator for telling me the word for sleeping bag!). He told me I need to walk 4 blocks and take a right. In between the ski shop and the corner 4 blocks away, I passed 4 more Au Vieux Campeurs. One sold only goggles and sunglasses, another sold only cold weather gear, the third sold trekking gear, and the 4th sold backpacks. Around the corner I found my sleeping bag store, and after purchasing one (I bought the cheapest one for only 15 euro!) I walked up towards the main road to catch the closest metro. The main road was one block away, but on the way I passed three more of those shops, one which sold swim gear, another which sold wetsuits, and the third which sold snowboards and snowboarding brand clothing. I turned up the main road and walked past another one which sold only hiking boots. I saw a shelf inside with some spray cans and walked in and bought some leather protectant spray for my shoes!

Topic three: Zara

I went into Zara today to try to find a light jacket (the temperature dropped yesterday to the low 50s). I found a really cute coat but they only had 3 larges. I went up to the man at the counter and asked in french "est-ce que vous avez sa plus petit?" (Do you have this more small?) I asked that in french!! I don't think it was a perfect sentence but he understood me! He told me no, and said the store by L'Opera had it. Then he asked me something I completely didn't understand, and I asked him in french if he spoke english. He did not, and neither did the woman at the register. I wanted to ask him if he could have the other store send it to this Zara, since it's only 1 block from my dorm, but I had no way of saying that. Eventually he just gave me the address to the other Zara. Oh well, I almost had it!!

Topic four: The language of a New Yorker

When I worked at Ben & Jerry's for the Tennis U.S. Open a couple summers ago, I got a lesson in how to speak a whole different language. I'm not talking about a foreign language, I mean the language of the inner city. Until a couple weeks ago, I thought that it was a language that could translate to any city, but I'm starting to realize that what I was hearing was unique to New York. Do you want to know how I know this? I know because I met a nice girl from St. John's who lives in our dorm and is a native New Yorker. The second she opens her mouth I am transported back to yesteryear, to my ice cream-scooping days. Last night around 11:30 she came into my room as Yomna and I were watching project runway on my laptop (I bought it from iTunes). She wanted us to watch a scary movie with her but we were already watching our show and didn't want to watch "Devil."

As soon as she walked in I knew that Yomna and I might not be able to finish our episode before the night was through. This girl can talk. I mean, I might say four words and she says five thousand. She can talk for 20 minutes with no interruption from me..except an occasional "mhm." Last night one of the topics she talked about was all the St. John's people who say they are from New York, but then she finds out they're from Connecticut or Massachusetts. She explained that one girl on her program is only eating bread and water because she wants to get a bigger chest and butt.

...

I don't know. I'll just say that there are definitely differences between the students from St. John's and the NU students. For one, I never see any NU kids outside the building smoking, but it seems like there are always 2 or 3 kids from St. John's smoking outside. And it's always different people so it's not like it's 3 of them that just smoke all night and day. Secondly, we were all warned to be quiet when talking with windows open, or when walking outside the front door down the passageway in between our building and the church building to the door that leads to the street because the sound gets trapped in the passageway and everyone can hear everything you say. It's the St. John's kids who lean out their windows to yell to each other, or who play "kick the water bottle" in the passageway. But I'm straying off topic, I was just so fascinated that two groups of students- and both from good schools- could be so different. Back to the St. John's girl.

At one point she started ranting about one of our RA's (a subject she hits on repeatedly). She told us that she told him earlier yesterday that "he was f*in stupid- I told him right to his face! Everyone hates his f*in a$$." Apparently one of the reasons for this is that the RA walked into a girl's room who was skyping with her parents and started asking her about being Albanian, saying he felt sorry for her country because of the religious division. Apparently he told her that her religion (she's Muslim) is a violent one. Now, I don't know if that's true, which- if it is that is unacceptable- but this is what St. John's girl had to say about it:

"I told him, 'who are you to talk, you're f*in Polish! I could say a lotta things about you. You from the most communist f*in part of town!!' Yo it's mad rude to be like sayin' 'I feel bad for your country' and sh*t. All these Europeanners don't know how to talk to people."

She's engaged to be married next year. She's the one that found the mouse in the refrigerator. "I opened the door and saw the mice ran out the refrigerator! Then later that day I was in the kitchen, and I saw another mice!" Oy ve. She's a really nice girl but I'm worried that her grammar is going to rub off on me if I listen to her talk for too long.

And that's where today's post ends! Bon week-end!

Love always,

Hillary