Encore une fois, c'est la vie.

It is time for my massive weekly re-cap of my current activities!
The mosque trip on Wednesday was indeed enlightening. The Mosque of Paris was really extremely beautiful and well-preserved, covered in mosaics and wash-basins that are actually not supposed to hold any water at all. I learned quite a bit, but this is not to say I don't have my own opinions on the religious practice, and I will simply leave that at that. After the visit, we had really great Arab tea with our professor and some of our class in a cafe around the corner of the mosque. Steph and I walked home, and had crepes in a neighborhood we had previously visited, and then went to the Pantheon. Since we were too cheap to pay admission, we stood by the door and looked inside at much of the massive and gruesome paintings featuring decapitations and angels and what not. The Pantheon is such a colossal building that it is difficult to not feel overwhelmed in its presence. After, we walked for 30-minutes, past the Jardin du Luxembourg, to campus and discussed everything under the sun, as Steph and I often tend to do.
On Thursday, after class, I went jogging for an hour and a half. Then, everyone participating in the Global Service Day put on our matching t-shirts and we had an awkward photo-shoot at the Eiffel Tower. We made butter, ham, and Swiss cheese sandwiches and my group walked to Montparnasse to hand them out. We successfully got rid of all of them, all while making distasteful jokes which probably took away from the "selfless" experience. But really, I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. After much convincing, Steph agreed to accompany me to Le Mix once more. To be honest, I didn't have high hopes for the night, but again, I was pleasantly surprised. We had minimal pre-gaming resources, and because for once, I was not hammered upon my entrance, the place seemed entirely new, though I'm not so sure that this was a positive. After some time however, I started to really dig the ambiance and began meeting people, as well as talking to classmates that I am not very close with. I met one fella from Spain who was just an atrocious dancer and even worse kisser. I was covered in Erasmus flags, flaunting the languages I spoke, and I was dedicated to keeping them all, and even though I gained a Brazilian flag, I ended the night with none, once more. At this point it is probably appropriate to share my poly-amorous experience for the night. I had claimed Spanish guy #1s flag (just the sticker, relax) and was just about sick of him, when I spotted my fella from last week and made a B-line for him. After much staring and flirting, we were successfully dancing... the problem was that I could spot #1 from the corner of my eye, about to decapitate me. I attempted to suavely look away as he stormed up to me, mid-dance, and tore off his Spain sticker from my shirt. Fine. It's interesting that men at clubs find numerous partners for the night and women are supposed to just take it. Yet the second the tables are turned, the latter are viewed as "hoes." It's a club bro, chill, I wasn't gonna go home with you anyway. Anyhow, the rest of the night was rather awesome but also awkward, as I am a fan of my recurring fella, but not so much of his creeping friend. Let's just leave it at that.
On Friday night, all the girls and I went out to dinner to Montparnasse Cafe (I sense a theme here) and we enjoyed pricier meals. I had escargot, Bordeaux, and Steak Tartare for the first time. I was enjoying it, but the pile was just too large, and the texture began to give me the chills. All I could think about was dead, bloody animals, so needless to say, I couldn't finish my meal, nor will I ever eat it again (as someone told me later that night, "YOU ATE STEAK TARTARE? NOT EVEN THE FRENCH EAT STEAK TARTARE!") After dinner, we walked to Rue de Princesse and went to an over-stuffed bar. There I had 6 shots... err... 5 of them being of various flavors and colors. After some dancing, we walked to the Highlander Bar by the Sienne, where we danced some more and put on drunken theatrical shows as we often do. I was absolutely exhausted by 3 AM and honestly, rather unhappy. The rain didn't help my disposition either.
On Saturday, I woke up at 3 PM, and we got an epicly late start to the Techno Parade. We had walked out the door by 7 PM, but it was too late, the massive parade was over. We drank at a park by Jardin du Luxembourg and walked to Rue de Princesse once more. Since it was 10 PM, the place was rather empty in comparison to the night before. We met 2 guys that bought us numerous drinks at one bar... and later we walked to St. Michel and entered maybe 5 bars that kicked us out because we refused to pay 6 Euro per shot, or anything at all for that matter. At this point we had lost Brittany with her bag of beers, the previous 2 guys we met, and met up with a guy that Steph was seeing. Regardless, St. Michel is a fun neighborhood to hang out in, and Korissa and I ran around asking for cigarettes like vagabonds while Stephanie got her mack on. At the end of the night I met some fans, who had seen me at Le Mix. It was flattering but after 15 creepy comments, I had had enough. Then we met some more annoying people, that immaturely laughed at our need to go home for the night because we had homework in the morning. Also, I learned that I have a very ardent distaste for a lot of French girls. At 4 AM, we walked back to campus in the drunken rapid pace that most tend to walk in when they have a bed expecting them for the evening.
Sunday was a big clusterfuck of nothingness and me putting off my assignments for the next day until midnight and therefore, culminated in me staying up all damn night and eating a ton of bread at 7 AM in my tired delirium. As a result, Monday thoroughly sucked, and I slept all day, only to repeat the process of cramming endless work due the following day.
Yesterday, me and the girls went to Versailles and it was absolutely beautiful. We made endless jokes on living in the palace and inviting people over to so modestly shrug it off. The palace displayed some Murakami exhibitions which were paradoxically displaced in bedchambers and chapels throughout the castle. Honestly, the exhibitions intensely clashed with Louis XIV's art but I think this was part of the idea. I imagined that the art would solely be gold or silver-plated structures but after witnessing a large anime doll posing in front of the "Crowning of Napoleon" painting, I was extremely puzzled. The gardens of Versailles were my favorite part, as everything seemed surreal and similarly as heavenly as the artwork the palace boasted. I found myself wishing I existed as royalty during this era, or hell, even a servant working at the palace. We had limited time available to us, and to make it back in time for dinner, we ran through several train stations because we "did not want to have the cod." The night culminated with yet more homework (AHAHA SO FUNNY), as finals were the next day.
Alas, it is now Wednesday, my final day in Paris. As I often wish, I am in dire need of more time here... perhaps just a week. My departure seems premature and yet at the same time, I feel like I have accomplished a lot here. I suppose I do not like the idea of leaving a place and never knowing when I am to come back to it. Also, it doesn't help that I have made friends and acquaintances here that I would like to permanently keep in my life, or at least for a little longer. To put it bluntly, distance is a bitch, which is something I've come to learn very well throughout my life. I will greatly miss the entire way of life here, though it is not for me. Also, people's dispositions and their openness to sexuality, among other things. But there is no point in regretting or looking back on unactualized expectations, life must go on. Tomorrow I will be packed up and in Spain by noon, where I am excited to communicate freely with all people and meet new friends to add to my temporary repertoire.
Until then, we've got one more night in Paris and we are surely going to make it a good one.