Autumn in Paris

So its been ions since I updated- sorry! I really meant to post a bit sooner; I'm not sure what happened. My long gaps between posts have probably alienated the 3 people that read this thing. Anyway, as it's been a little while, I have some catching up to do.

In the past few weeks, school has really gotten underway- we're approaching mid-semester already, which seems a little silly, considering we've only been in class for less than a month and a half. When I'm in school, I feel like I'm a little kid, playing make-believe. Things don't seem real there. At this point, I'm over feeling inferior to the fashion bitches that dominate Parsons Paris's social scape. Now I simply do not care. They can prance around with their Miu Miu bags, thinking about how awesome they are- I just think they look foolish. Half the "ensembles" they put together each day are hideous, thus forcing me to speculate how the hell they are going to make decent looking garments for other people. Perhaps I just don't understand "ironic" dressing (you know, wearing obviously ugly clothing in an attempt to be hip and fashionable. I mean, come on- there was a girl walking around school yesterday in high-wasted black and bright red stripped pants. It was not a pretty picture). Being a student at Parsons Paris is like being back in middle school again- what with all the cattiness and the obviously faked confidence. Except my middle school was bigger.

Outside of school, I've gone to a few new bars and seen a few new parts of the city. I met a girl last weekend that lives near the rue Mouffetard, which is actually quite close to the part of Paris we stayed in while we visited Paris on the Euro trip. Rue Mouffetard is something special. Wikipedia indicates that the street was a Roman road- even today, many of the buildings that line the street are centuries old. There are numerous food stores and vendors, many selling the most incredible-looking seafood and cheese. We also ate at this cute little restaurant that focuses on quiche (is quicherie a word?). It's an incredibly charming little section of the city that most likely I would not have discovered on my own. There's a part of me that wishes my apartment was situated over there.

I've spent a good deal of time lately walking around the St. Germain- Odéon- St. Michel area. While it's a nice section of Paris to see and experience, there's something about it that always leaves me a tad disappointed- I can't figure out quite what it is. There are always an abundance of middle-aged American tourists, mostly couples, over there wandering around, trying to find Notre Dame or a decently-priced café so that they can return home to tell Bobby and Susan down the street that they had the "Paris experience."


The legendary Pont-Neuf from another bridge. Notre Dame is directly behind where I was standing. While I was taking this picture, a random girl came up to me and asked if she could take my picture for a school project requiring her to shoot strangers wearing sunglasses.

It's beginning to really feel like autumn. Two days ago I walked to the Monoprix (kind of like Target, but with a much better grocery section) over by the Tour Montparnasse, in the process passing by the Cimetière Montparnasse. I'm kind of ashamed that I haven't taken a walk through there yet with my camera, especially since it's like, two blocks from my apartment. I'm going to try to force myself to go on Sunday. From the outside, it looked quite beautiful with the leaves beginning to change.

This man's blazer is awesome.

I'll shall try to be more diligent about posting regularly.