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So, I haven't had an extremely eventful last week in Paris. It's kind of unfortunate. Mainly, it's because everyone (including myself, finally) is stressing out about our 10 to 15 page final paper. The other reason for me at least, is that I've been sick with a cold and an ear infection. You know, it especially sucks to have clogged ears in a foreign country, because you already have trouble deciphering individual words. Now, it's just amplified! Plus, when I say, "What?" they think that means I don't speak French. Really, though, I just can't hear them! It's infuriating.

I have been to the Marais twice in the past couple of days, though. On Tuesday, I met Maria at a great cafe on Rue des Rosiers (where all the falafel places are). It's away from all the stands, and it's called Le Loir Dans La Theiere. We had amazing tea and ate lemon meringue cake that was cut in the biggest slices I have ever seen! So yummy.

After, we went to the Place des Vosges to do some work on our papers. Then, we went to Mariage Freres, this beautiful tea shop, where I bought tea and a music box that plays the Swan Lake music. I'm going to use it as a jewelry box so that I every time I need a necklace, I'll get to hear beautiful ballet music!

We then met our friends and ended up at La Belle Hortense, a literary cafe on Rue Vielle du Temple. It was really relaxing, as there were bookshelves and paintings everywhere, and we took over half of the back room with our laptops.
The rest of that day was boring...basically just me at home trying to fix my ear/work on my paper.

Then yesterday after class we grabbed lunch at La Grande Epicerie (probably for the last time) and went to the Marais to do some vintage shopping. I ended up going to this olive oil store instead to buy artisan oils for my family, and then I went to a vintage store alone. By then it was already around 6, so I headed home to work on my paper.

Today, I am still working on my paper (it's a long, arduous process) and am about to shower, stop by the pharmacy next door, and go to the Centre Pompidou Library where I will eventually meet Paulo to grab dinner.

I still need to pack, too, which I'm going to start tonight after dinner.

I wish my last week in Paris wasn't so work/illness filled, but it makes me appreciate the city as a place where you actually live. If I study abroad here for a year, every week isn't going to be full of sightseeing and fun, so it's nice to know I'll still be able to enjoy Paris when my life is busy or icky.

I'm planning on doing one more post (it might be two, who knows) before I return home! A bientot!

Le Loir dans la Thiere. It was adorable inside!

Beautiful sky at Place de Vosges.

A painting on a restaurant wall. Evidence of the strong Jewish influence in the Marais.

La lunette d'approche. AKA The Telescope. My favorite Magritte piece. Just stare at it for a while. Wow.

haute cuisine chez anna

I've been sick with a cold all day (a terrible way to start off my last week in Paris, I know), but I had a wonderful day yesterday/last night. I woke up late after a late night of clubbing, so I got up and went to the Marais where I ate a sort of oniony pastry (fresh from the oven) from a Jewish bakery and went shopping. I went into millions of awesome boutiques and clothing stores, but nothing really jumped out at me.

At around 5, I met Anna near Les Halles and we went up Rue Montorgeuil to buy foodstuff for dinner. It's a great market street, full of fresh produce stores, boulangeries, fromageries, boucheries, and epiceries. We bought tons of veggies, chevre, burrata cheese, basil, fresh bread, and more. We walked back to her house and cooked an AMAZING meal of green salad with fennel, avocado, tomato, basil; caprese salad with tomato, buratta cheese, and basil; sauteed haricots verts with shallots; and tartines (open faced baked sandwiches) with special Poilane (my fave boulangerie) bread and chevre. We also had these special gourmet olives that we had bought to munch on. Our friend Kenneth arrived with wine and dessert. He had bought an amazing lemon meringue pie at a nearby patisserie. We stuffed ourselves with food and wine and cake and were dying to lapse into a long food coma when our friends Maria, Ariel, and Kelly came by to pregame for a night out clubbing.

So, we prettied ourselves up and went out to an awesome club (well really it's more of a bar with a dance floor) called Kong, that had once been featured on Sex and the City. It was somewhat posh, but still really fun and nearly everyone was dancing by 1. We split a cab back to Anna's at around 3:30, and I was asleep by 4!

It was a great, albeit long day, and I hope the rest of my week will be equally eventful! Also, now that I rested today, I'm hoping I'll get better soon so I can really enjoy my week. I've drank nearly a quart of orange juice, so hopefully that will help......

I only wish they had Airborne in France!

Our lovely spread. 

Up close and personal with the buratta cheese. It was the night's surprise winner, because we bought it on a whim at the last minute. We actually went to a second fromagerie just to grab some.

Anna and our dessert. Doesn't the pie look delish???