'S Wonderful, 'S Marvelous

 
     I think I've let enough time pass to really admit that I'm in love with Paris. I love the way the bread crackles when it's split apart, the man who plays the accordion in the Duroc station every morning on the way to class, and the way that dressing nicely is just normal here. Everything I've read about Americans coming to live in Paris has been true so far, including the bad- the frustrations, the seeming lack of logic- and the good- just about everything. For my first few weeks, I felt like I was pretending to be a Parisian, like I might as well have been wearing a red beret and striped shirt while gnawing on a baguette (Well, the baguette part is actually true), and now I feel like I can pass as the Real Deal to the untrained eye.    

     I'm starting to have tourists ask me where to find things, even though I want to tell them "It's okay, I'm really just one one of you, too!" I can navigate the city by métro without consulting my city map book every single time. I can go to Franprix (The local grocery store chain where I found peanut butter and salsa! YES!) and bring my own bag for my groceries since they don't offer any. I have yet to figure out how to throw my money back into my wallet and pack my groceries fast enough so I don't slow everyone down and get stared at. I don't know how they do it so fast. To the other shoppers, I probably look like I have oven mitts for hands, dropping coins everywhere and loading yogurts pretty much with two hands into my bag. 

   Yesterday we visited Les Invalides, which is a large Baroque building that was once a hospital (and still partially is, I think) and now houses Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb and the French military museum. It was fascinating to see endless hallways of uniforms and weapons from all different wars and eras. We even saw Napoleon's preserved horse, which is probably one of the weirdest things I've ever seen. 

     Another thing I love about living in Paris is that I can do whatever I want whenever I want to. We went shopping on the Champs-Élysées for a while to find me some warmer clothes (It's still like 25 degrees here) have a coffee and a pastry. Just a typical Saturday, right? I love that I can take line 13 all the way there whenever I have the urge to shop. Yesterday I realized that coming here has been the greatest decision I have made so far in my life, and that feels pretty wonderful and marvelous to say.

Rachel

Les Invalides- that dome is the one that you can see under the Eiffel Tower.

Napoleon

Napoleon's horse- isn't that crazy and gross?

Good times with good people