"j'ai un bebe!"

Last night we went on the boat ride on the Seine. It was interesting to see the city from that perspective but it would have been better if it was warm and we could be outside on the deck instead of inside the glass covering. I was surprised that there were several houseboats along with restaurants on boats. I took some more pictures of the Eiffel Tower from a great angle.

After that, Anna and I went back to the apartment for dinner. I will preface this with saying that the other night when my mom was here, Louise told us that she loves to eat horse meat and that she was going to have us try it and just tell us it is beef because she did that with the girls that stayed with her last time and they liked it (or something). So last night we roll in and there she is about to sautee some chopped up meat that looks rather magenta and un-beef-like. I look at Anna and mouth “cheval?” (horse) and she nods warily. After a few minutes of silence as we watched her cook, Louise says “I’m making this beef” or something like that and I go “It’s not….cheval?” and she says “Oh no, I didn’t have time to go to blah blah store today so next week” blah blah but I wasn’t convinced. I felt that the meat had a bit of a different look to it when it was cooked but I ate some of it anyway, reassuring myself that she wouldn’t actually lie to my face like that. So, in conclusion, I may or may not have eaten horse meat last night. Gross.

I enjoyed having several friends in my classes yesterday. I really enjoy my French language class (the only one that meets twice a week), the professor is great and 4 other girls from my program are in there. The other class I had yesterday, written French, was ok, a little difficult because we had to do a “dictee” which means the professor reads a few paragraphs and we have to write down what she says and then answer questions about it. It’s hard to answer the questions about the dictee when you’re not sure if you got the words right, but it wasn’t too bad. There are 2 nuns in my class. It is very distracting, which is ironic because they wear those big gray shapeless dresses to blend in? There are 2 priests in my language class, they are both very nice, they come from India (surprising because Catholics make up only 2% of Indian religions) and Vietnam. And I find it secretly hilarious to listen to this guy speak French with an Indian accent.

I woke up this morning feeling not great, my throat is very sore due to my coughing. I might go to the doctor today (there is one we can go to right near campus). I probably shouldn’t have gone out last night, especially since we didn’t end up doing much. We were trying to go to this club off the Champs Elysee but we couldn’t get in because some people in our group were wearing jeans. It was very frustrating because we do that a lot (walk around forever trying to find a place and don’t end up liking it/going in). Some of the others tried to get into a different club which was surrounded with people trying to get in but I said hell no and left with Mikhail and Dane (they live right near me). We stopped in the McDonald’s (even though I swore I wouldn’t go there) and got a snack and witnessed the woman behind the counter screaming racial slurs at 2 customers (something about Arabs). She was taken to the back by her manager, returned a few minutes later, and much to my surprise acted very pleasant and like nothing had happened when it came time to take our order. The fries taste the same, although they do also feature great potato wedges on the menu, and the Big Mac is indeed called Royal Cheese (not Royale with Cheese). We sat down at a table and witnessed another scene in which the friends of the 2 girls who got yelled at by the woman behind the counter came in to fight. They were escorted out and the restaurant was closed early. And, to put a dramatic end to our night, our cab driver was out of his mind and went nuts when I started coughing and made us get out of the cab not quite at our destination, screaming out the window that I was going to kill his baby or something to that extent. He was very offended by my discreet coughing and that was strange and shocking. We stood on the corner dumbfounded for a moment, then headed home.

We have to be at the ISA office at 7:45 AM tomorrow morning to leave for Normandy/Mont St. Michel. I won’t have internet while I’m there, but I’m sure I’ll have stories to tell upon my return.