Whol 'lotta Shit!

Wow, this has been a ridiculous two weeks. Wow.

To start, I have to tell you about my soccer experience. As I only played soccer for probably less than a year when I was a kid, I do not know much about the sport. The teams, the tricks of the trade, and what the hell is going on. Nevertheless, I was invited to a live soccer game at STADE France (freakin' huge stadium which I came to love). The game was between Lille and Lyon (Lyon is the best, but they lost. Ha!). So anyway, went to the stadium filled with tens of thousands of soccer hooligans and little kids. Believe it or not The Wave is an international sports phenomenon as well as holding up signs of the same color which looks pretty sweet I must say. Then after the game we were presented with a thriling fireworks show. No, I am not talking about those puny Publix sponsored ones at Braves games but an actually fireworks show inside the dome accompanied by a water and lights show and techno music. Wow, again. Unfortunately, upon leaving, as we walked through the firework smell (love that) we found out the metro was close and we had to walk 10 miles to the next station. Okay so it was probably a mile and a half but it felt like 10 miles. To our suprise we found that the metro was closed because people were hit by the train, a common phenomenon; Bienvenue a Paris :)

So what else... I did have a party, again. I was extended an offer to try out to be a cook at a restaurant, which I am not sure If I have gotten yet. The food is American breakfast food and burgers and a bunch of other BS. Anyway, I am not super used to cooking breakfast food so I wanted to practice at home. Obviously food costs in Paris are outrageous, plain expensive. But, my gifted, innovative, uncomparable mind gave me the idea to have a food party in the middle of the day. It worked perfectly. Tons of people showed up with mounds of food from tomatos and turkey roasts to eggs and sausages. I cooked everything and we all drank beer and wine for hours (16 to be exact). AND! By having the party in the middle of the day, we avoided neighbor complaints. Perfect day. What was not so perfect was during the "lendemain difficile" we had to take out the glass bottles to the recycling right next to the landlords door. She could hear the endless noise of bottle breaking and popped her head out the window "Too Small?" Wonderful, landlord meany lady thinks we are alcoholics. :)

On another note, I have describe to y'all the couple of times I have seen protestors in Paris which has been truely entertaining. On Tuesday though, it got a bit more personal. Currently in Paris, most university teachers are on strike which means no classes. The students are all pissed about this. What pisses them off even more is that even though Sciences-Po is technically still a public school, the teachers and students get special treatment AND we actually have class right now, hehe. Well the rioting students were planning to take over our school so we had security outside checking IDs. Most people thought this would be enough until someone snuck in and opened a side door in which approximately 100 French students from other schools fled into our building. They came and interrupted classes and the building was evacuated. They locked themselves in rooms, lit things on fire and threw them out the window, and threw water balloons and trashcans. The Sciences-Po students shouted back chants while the other students rebuttled with their own. It was histerical. Finally the police came, quite heavily body armoured and stood in front of the door. Eventually, the students were forced to leave but did not seem to have any sanctions put on them. I participated in all of this while hanging onto a window bar outside the school. I feel a part of the atmosphere, it is wonderful.

Lastly, I want to talk about the rest of the day. Saint Patricks day that is. I came home and had a Doner Kebab first. For those of you who do not know, which is probably almost everyone in the USA, a doner kabab is thin sliced beef stacked on a pole. THe the meat is shaven off and put into a sandwich with white sauce and French fries. D-E-licious. After that, Yovan and I headed off to the Bar, Cafe OZ, to meet up with the girls. Why did we go to an Australian bar/club for St. Pats? Because you should have seen O'Sullivans. There are millions of Irish Bars in Paris, and every single one was bombarded by Irish and French wishing they were irish. It was fantastic and sad at the same time. Anyway we drank a bit at the bar then headed to the night club Duplex. Duplex was free for students lastnight what was a great way to have fun and save some money. So we danced and partied and talked and had an amazing European night. It was our friends birthday and she was definitely having lots of fun. Everyone was happy and in a good mood which made it even better. Puis, miss B-day girl wanted to meet guys. She met two French guys that had helped some of us find the club earlier in the evening. They were really nice and after the club closed they invited us to their place to have some Gin and Redbull. Sure, why not. So we hooked that up, and went to their 7th floor apartment...damn stairs. After about 1 hour of final relaxation, someone had the idea to watch the sunrise from the Sacre Couer. We got off at the Pigalle metro stop, and even though I mentioned that we were heading in the wrong direction, Frenchie insisted that he was correct as he was indeed the Parisien. That is until 1km later we found a nice directional pointing in the direction that I had suggested. Oh well. So we turned around and finally got to the top of the hill. We were literally the only people there and you could see Paris in its entirety. Just beautiful. Pure beauty. The fog, the history, the warmth. It really makes you love Paris and forget your hangover. On the way home we grabbed a Chocolat Geant (giant chocolate croissant). Delicious, again. I finally arrived home at 9am which is why this day has most definitely been a hard one. But, I am alive, sober, and ready for tomorrow.

Hope I didn't bore you. Love and miss you all

Billy Out...