Another Week

Another week in Paris has slipped by. Since I have been here I have learned to appreciate a glass of wine at a meal, the taste and texture of carrying a hot baguette on my walk home, and that every metro stop smells like pee and shit at some point of the day. Paris is full of the little things. Last night (Monday) I went to a Poetry reading held at a sweet bookstore called Shakespeare and Co. Located on the edge of the Seine, right across from Notre Dame, Shakespeare and Co. is a hidden treasure that one has to seek out in order to fine. It reminded me of a bookstore in Harry Potter (nerd alert but whatever). Crammed ceiling to floor with books of all kinds; old, new, tattered, sexual, french, english, childrens, suspense, every piece of everything imaginable.

My poetry teacher was the poet picked to read for that week, so a few of my fellow classmates and I crammed ourselves into this tiny, spectacular venue and listened. It was my first poetry reading. After this experience it will not be my last. There is nothing like hearing a poet read his/her own work aloud in front of an audience. Each person quiet and in rapt attention, the words have a way of bouncing of the walls and then sinking into the crowd. After the reading, we made our way downstairs into the main area of the book store (which was packed full with people), where we were greeted with wine, champagne and appetizers (all for free, perfect for college students). We then mingled a bit, met some interesting people, particularly an older, rotund man from Houston, who gave me the lowdown on one of the best, and least known museums in Paris.

Being in Paris, and being in my poetry class, has provoked me to really study poetry and practice more than before. After that reading, I knew that one day, I wanted to have that experience for myself. Reading my work a loud is petrifying and daunting, and I cannot help but blush red every time I have to read a piece in class. But, I am learning.

It is now February. The month of rain and wind and fog. That is one thing I cannot/ will not ever get used to-no sun. You do not realize how much the sun influences your day, or maybe I am just spoiled from living in Southern California. But I have learned one key thing about myself, I need the sun. I realized the other day that I do not remember the last time it was sunny here. Its hard to make yourself be adventerous and explore when you walk out the door and are met with rain, wind and dark clouds. But good thing I live in Paris, so I am easily distracted from the gloom :).

On a sadder note, the sale season ended this past weekend-thus I am officially done shopping. For now. I made some essential Parisian purchases: tan leather booties, black leather booties, black military jacket and the quintessential striped shirt and sweater. Now I can try and be as stylin' as my fellow Parisian women, who seem to ALWAYS look good no matter what the circumstance.

Last weekend I also went into one of Paris' most famous candy stores (it is a well known fact that I have a terrible sweet tooth and candy is my biggest weakness). When you walk in, you are automatically greeted by walls of different sweets, such as, chocolate olives with nuts inside; different types of cookies; macaroons; sweet candies; fudge: chocolate fudge, vanilla fudge, fig fudge, coffee fudge; chocolates: dark chocolate, milk chocolate, orange chocolate, chocolate with almonds, rows and rows of chocolate; I almost died. Especially when I saw the prices. But of course, I could not help myself. I ended up getting a piece of fudge with figs in it-delectable and a few sweet sucky candies, and a chocolate olive. Lets just say I limited myself from the first candy adventure where I spent 8 euros (around 10 dollars) on a bag of candy from the candy store on Mouffetard by my house. Woops. The chocolate olive was very interesting and something I usually would not have tried, but I am glad I did. I loved it.

Moving on from candy to something even better, traveling. My friends and I have finally settled down on our Spring Break plans, which takes place from feb 26th- March 13th. WOO! So here is the itenarary
Feb 26th: Paris-->Casablanca.
Casablanca for a day or two, then onward to Marakesh for a few days.
Markaesh--> Barcelona.
Barcelona for two days, then hopefully Madrid or Sevilla-still to be determined.
Back to Barcelona to meet up with friends for a day and a half.
Barcelona--> Amsterdam.
Amsterdam for the weekend.
Amsterdam--> Paris, and voila. Two of the best weeks of my life, yet to come.

I am also going to visit one of my best friends, Sarah Paxton, in Scotland, February 18th, so I have a lot of traveling ahead of me.

So there is a little update of my life so far. More to come soon.
Love, Bri