I Am the Most Sporadic Blogger Ever...

So, except for the week just gone, nothing really exciting happened because I was preparing for exams. Buttt Sunday the 21st was Fete de la Musique, which is a festival in Paris to celebrate the first day of summer. Basically all the musicians take to the streets, play outside bars and retaurants, and everything is free. So at about 6pm Steph and I threw in the towel on study, met up with our friends Jess and Marcella, who did an exchange in Lyon but were in Paris (not staying with us because we were too busy studying) and decided we'd just walk out of our building and follow the music. So on the first little side street running off my street we hear some music and decide to walk down. There we find what is without question the best dj set I've ever heard in my entire life, being played on the street. So we grabbed mojitos from the bar next door, and sat around drinking on the street and listening to the music. It was very chilled, and I absolutely loved it.

Then we just wandered along, headed up to Republique through the Marais to grab some dinner. By this stage we were a bit tipsy, and so sat around eating while Jess and Marcella told us hilarious stories about donkey farming. So the waiter took quite a shine to us, and brought us out free glasses of champagne. Then, when I broke a glass, as 'punishment' he brought around another round of drinks. Epic. So headed off to meet Steph's boyfriend, the two of them headed home (it's about 2am by this stage) and Jess, Marcella and I head off to one of the gay clubs in the Marais. We dance the night away until 6.30 in the morning, and as we're walking home I turned to the other two and said "You realise I have an exam in 26 hours". So freaked out a little bit, but it was definitely one of the best nights/days I've had in Paris.

Exams didn't go at all well, but I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I've at least passed. So I had my last one on Friday morning, Brooke was staying with Steph and I, so we went back to the apartment, dumped out stuff, met my friend Damian for lunch, and then hit the sales. It was a pretty epic day, and I managed to pick up a number of bargains - the most beautiful linen jacket that I'm in love with, a pair of chambray high-waisted pants, denim shorts, and a beautiful floral dress. Unfortunately that night I had to work, but I was so overtired that I was mostly just hyperactive and ran around singing to everyone.

So the next day, had the first sleep in for quite awhile. Got up and went to my friend Olga's house for drinks before we went out to dinner for her 21st birthday! So dinner was delicious, and the people were great. After we finished we went to Pont des Arts (a pedestrian bridge kind of near the Louvre) and sat there drinking until about 3am, when I headed out on the town with a couple of the guys until about 6am. We were actually at a club that closed at 5am, and when it closed Igor and I thought it would be a good idea to move onto one that closed at 6am. So we did. It was a pretty big night...

Sunday caught up with the same group of people, and we went up to the hill that Sacre Coeur is on and sat around drinking. They were all staying the night, but about 3am I realised I wasn't going to last the distance and jumped in a cab. Passed out the minute my head hit the pillow.

Monday night Olga and I headed off for a picnic on Champ de Mars, the stretch of grass in front of the Eiffel Tower. It was lovely, but I had to leave pretty early because Rob was coming to my place to drop off his bag that he's leaving in my apartment over the summer. Anyway, I was also keen to get an early night because Stacey and Michael (Ken-z) were both arriving the next day. As it turns out, Rob and I finished off a couple of bottles of wine and I didn't get to bed until 3.

So the next day I go to meet Stace at the train station at around 11am. Between that time and 6pm when we got back to my apartment before Ken-z arrived I think we must have walked about 10km, and seen every monument in Paris. It was epic. Anyway, Ken-z showed up fresh off the plane from Brisbane, we let him have a shower, and then headed back to Pont des Arts for a picnic. Igor (who is a Kiwi) and some of his friends came and met us, we also had Steph, Jess and another UQ girl Suzannah with us. So, once again, at about 1am we leave Pont des Arts to go out. The Kiwis bailed, but Stace, Ken-z and I powered on until about 6.30am. Then woke up at midday to try and tourist it up. Needless to say we didn't do particularly well, got to lunch and Notre Dame before we decided to go home and have a nap.

That night we went to Champ de Mars for a picnic, and to watch sunset over the Eiffel Tower. We also climbed it, and went right up the top (which I'd never done before, every other time I've gone it's been closed) which was a great idea given I'm petrified of heights. So spent most of the time clinging to the walls, and then sitting with my head between my legs because I got vertigo. Managed to get home at about 2am (although Stace and I did make a brief detour to a nightclub).

Woke up the next day, went up to Sacre Coeur, Moulin Rouge, then did a bit of shopping before taking Stace back home and then to the train station so she could head back to London... Igor and his friend came to my place, Ken-z and I drank to much, and we all went out to this place called Social Club. Got home at a reasonable hours (3.30am) as we were having lunch with one of my Mum's oldest friends the next day who was in Paris for business.

So caught up with him, and he'd bought me vegemite and milo! Which was so so exciting for me! Had a nice, free lunch, and then went to meet up with my friend Suzannah and her family, as we'd established Ken-z knew her brother from waterpolo. Small world... He also knew my Mum's friend - turns out his family had holidayed at the place where Ken-z's family goes every year for a couple of years, and they stayed in the units beside each other...

So Ken-z headed off on his tour, and my house was empty! Not really, because we still have Jess and Steph's Mum with us. But my houseguests are gone. So I had a bit of a rest before heading off to work. And now am catching on the emails and whatnot that I've been neglecting!

Spring Break and Alcholism

Hi All!

Definitely haven't left it so long, although it has been awhile!

So, Spring Break. Not exactly the relaxing or productive week I'd been hoping for. Worked Friday and Saturday, as I usually do. Sunday went to trivia, Monday hung out at home... And from Tuesday night it all went downhill.

On Tuesday I caught up with my friend Chris, a Scottish guy who had hung out with Dave (my ex) and I when he and his friend were travelling around Australia. He'd been skiing in Switzerland and was travelling back through Paris, and stopped by for a visit. So that was lovely!

Tuesday night, I had work from 8pm til midnight. So I was working, it was pretty quiet, and was chatting to three english guys who had been in Paris for the week, and were going home the next day. I finished, and as I was leaving, they told me I should stay for a drink. They were with Helene, another bartender at work, who had been showing them around Paris. So, the five of us hung out. Then Helene went home when the bar closed. I got home at 11am on Wednesday morning, because we decided it would be a really good idea to, when the bar closed, go back to their hotel room and keep drinking.

The rest of Wednesday I spent napping, and was just on my way back from picking up takeaway sushi when my phone rang. It was my friend Rob, who had been down in Burgundy, and arrived back in Paris, only to realise he'd forgotten his apartment key. So he came round, and we stayed up drinking wine and chatting until very late.

Thursday I did some study, so as a reward on Thursday night I went into work as my boss had just had a baby, and had invited us round for a drink. Anna came and met me, as I hadn't seen her in ages! After she headed off, I went and met Steph, Tess and Soph at Cha Cha Club. We stayed there dancing for ages, it seemed to be the gay night because there were gay guys everywhere. It was especially fun when Britney came on, and I was really happy about it because I wasn't in the mood to deal with sleazy french men. I'd worn my new floral overalls, which was fun, although it was only after Steph and I were walking home that we realised I'd worn 6 euro overalls to one of the chicest clubs in Paris...

Friday and Saturday night I worked again. On Sunday night Slater (who was back in Paris) and I went to Cafe Charlot for dinner, in the Marais, and went to La Perle, where we were entertained by one of the craziest and most beautiful girls I'd ever seen in my life having a fight with her boyfriend. She was Italian. Slater and I then went back to my place and kept drinking, so got to bed really late, I woke up at 1.45 and realised I had to be at uni at 2.45. So that was a bit of a mad rush.

Then just spent the week studying for my first ever exam, on Saturday. Happily on Friday Misa and I went to the Marais, had a falafel and sat in a park in the sun studying. Our exam was the most mentally draining thing I've ever done - it was four hours long, and I had to write a dissertation on whether or not there was a malaise in political representation in Europe... in french.

So, finished 45 minutes early and went to Rob's place for a drink while I was waiting for Steph to finish (she somehow managed to run out of time!). Then, work.

This week haven't done a great deal, had two exposes due for two different classes, and worked Thursday as well as Friday (and will be doing Saturday as well) so I'm pretty tired. But, on Friday it was a public holiday, and we have Jess and her friend Marcella up from Lyon staying with us. So we went and had a picnic in Place des Vosges in the Marais, which was lovely. The weather was so nice I even got a little teeny bit sunburnt!

The other exciting thing is that I've started doing some vague planning for my summer travels! Yay!

Will be in touch. My friend Isabel is coming over from London, where she's an au pair, on Friday for the weekend. I've taken time off work, so I think there will be plenty of adventures to share!

Pick Up

French men happen to be a lot more forward than Aussie blokes. They have no qualms walking up to women and telling them exactly what they think. Here are a few of my favourites thus far:

Boy (B): I noticed you walking through the crowd picking up glasses, I was scared you were going to get hurt.
Georgia (G): Uh no, I'm fine.
B: You have a very beautiful face.
G: Oh um okay... thanks...
B: I'd really like to get to know you better.
G: Sorry, I have a boyfriend (my staple excuse)
B: That's okay, I have a girlfriend!

B: You are magnificent. We should have sex.

B: Hard night at work tonight?
G: No it's been alright.
B: Do you want my phone number?
G: Oh, I have a boyfriend.
B: That's okay, I'm not jealous!

B: You are a vision of perfection.

B: You seem lonely.
G: I'm fine.
B: Would you like to sit down and have a drink with us.
G: Uh, I'm working. (this is at about 3am on a Saturday night, our busiest time of the week)
B: Just one drink.
G: No..
B: Just one!
G: No!
B: Maybe you'd like to come home with me instead?

Finally...

A new update for you all!

So, when you last heard from me Mum was about to arrive. So she showed up on the Monday, and I was so relieved because my cold had turned into something of a deathly illness! The virus had migrated to both ear and chest infections, but luckily she was packing some hardcore antibiotics that made me feel better very quickly. So she was with us until Saturday, which was absolutely lovely. She mostly pottered around exploring the area, and Paris in general. Went to the Museum of Modern Art, ate out a lot, it was really nice.

So she headed off, I had work, went to Trivia (and won, obviously). Nothing really happened until that Thursday night, when I had Misa, Alex, my friend from Canada, Ally, another Canadian, and Sylvia and Frances (also from Canada) over for my famous vegetable soup and a lot of wine. So we hung out at mine until about midnight when we headed out to Andy Wahloo, a really fun miniclub just near my place and danced the night away. I did feel a bit sorry for myself the next morning, when I realised there had been six of us at my house and we'd had nine bottles of wine (the first of which Misa and I finished before anyone else arrived).

On Friday night before work I headed down to The Thistle for the leaving party of Alan, one of the bartenders, who was heading back to Scotland to prepare for his next international venture, to Australia!

Sunday, Alex and I banded together with the Corkatudes, the team who used to be our big competition but who we now seem to have merged with, and absolutely killed it at trivia, beating the team that came second by 4.5 points (which is a lot in trivia).

The rest of the week (which was last week) I was completely focused on my uni work, as Thursday morning I had an oral (in French) on "The role of values in the political choices of electors"... Easy, right? So, had to write that, then present it. Showed up to class thinking I would have at least half an hour to read through it before I went, as I was supposed to be second. However, my professor decided that it would actually make more sense if I went first! In a way it was kind of a good thing, as both the other two girls who were presenting were Australian. In some classes that wouldn't be a problem, as there are a lot of international students. However, in this particular class there's only about five of us. So by the time the second girl got up to start presenting, all the french in the class had just about had enough of foreigners massacring their language.

Anyway, the one good thing is that it's done and I no longer have to worry about it - I can focus my stress on my other oral that needs to be prepared, and the four hour exam that I have on ANZAC day. As Misa said when we walked out of class, 'It wasn't that shit'.

So, to recover we decided to go to the Marais to get a felafel, as Rue des Rosiers is a big Jewish street with the best felafel in Paris. Sadly, we'd forgotten it was Passover. So instead we went to Breakfast in America, and I had the first meal of bacon and eggs I've had since I got here! The french don't really eat bacon like we do, so I was very excited... I also treated myself to a haircut.

Thursday night went out with Ally and Olga, two friends, and Olga's best friend Amanda who is doing study abroad in London, and was over visiting. We hung out at there apartment drinking for awhile (quite awhile) before heading to a bar called Le Motel, where we were supposed to meet one of Ally's friends, Tomas, who is in the Sciences Po rugby team, and all his rugby friends. Needless to say, I found the prospect of french rugby boys rather appealing. Unfortunately we'd been drinking for so long that by the time we got there only Tomas was left, the others had gone to a Sciences Po student party at a club in Republique.

Olga, Amanda and I decided we couldn't be bothered legging it to Republique (by this stage the metro was closed so we would have had to cab) so we went to Cha Cha Club, which is just at Les Halles, basically between my place and Olga's, very convenient. Anyway, it was a great place to go out and is definitely on my list as one of my favourite bars/nightclubs in Paris. Walked home through Les Halles at 5am, didn't get stabbed, which is definitely an achievement in that area.

Friday afternoon, once I'd woken up, Steph and I went vintage shopping in the Marais and over in Bastille. It was kind of late, and the crowds were pretty crazy so we didn't really make the most of it. But I did manage to pick up two pairs of overalls, one in denim, and one in this fabulously hideous blue and brown florally pattern.

Then, work work blah blah. Easter Sunday we had lunch at our place with Tess (who cooked, yay!), her friend Loc who was visiting, our friend Loc, Julien, and a couple of other Australians. The food was absolutely amazing and it was a really fun bunch of people. Later that evening some french friends of Julien showed up, so a lunch that started at 3pm ended up finishing at about 3am. I was sent on a wine/vodka run at about 8pm. Luckily France is secular, so everything that would normally be open on a Sunday was still open.

Now, we have a week midsemester break... A lot of my friends have gone away, but I decided that with work I would just stay in Paris and enjoy the spring (although it's kind of cloudy and gross at the moment). Worked last night til midnight, and although I intended to go straight home, I got chatting to a group of English boys who were friends with Helene, a girl I work with. So I ended up getting home at 10am this morning. Oops.

Anyway, must go do some uni work now. I'll try not to leave so long between posts! I really miss you all so much! Georgia xox

La Vie As It Stands

So it's been awhile between posts, but I have a legitimate reason, which is that there hasn't been a great deal to tell!

Worked and slept for almost all of the weekend, with the exception of Sunday, where I managed to mosey down to Trivia, and, despite intending to get a relatively early night, did not manage to stumble home until 3am. Oops.

Probably the most exciting thing is the fantastic weather that we're currently enjoying. Since the weekend the sun has been shining, although it is by no means the skin cancer generating Aussie sun that I miss so much. I went out to lunch with a friend from the UK on Monday, and was so amazed by the weather that I sat around in a t-shirt dress and only one pair of stockings. My goosebumps were pretty epic, but I couldn't bear to put on my cardigan!

Anyway, Tuesday night was St Patrick's Day, so Eric, Misa, Alan, Giva (two of the bartenders from The Thistle) and a few other people and I went to a bar called the Fifth on Rue Mouffetard. We played beer pong, I was unsurprisingly rather terrible and thus ended up drinking quite a lot in quite a short space of time.

Unfortunately I've know come down with a bit of a cold, so am trying to rest a bit in order to recover! Happily, this was made so much easier by the fact that my class this afternoon was cancelled! Alot of unions went on strike today, and when I showed up at uni there were about 40 policeman blocking off the street. I ran into my friend Rob, who told me that he'd been told to leave the building immediately, and they were now in lockdown and no one could get out or in. Apparently they were scared that the strikers would move down to Sciences Po and try to storm the building. I love France, and the fact that it's probably the only place in the world where uni classes would stop because of a fear of violent rioters!

Anyway, work Friday and Saturday night, but on Monday Mum arrives! I must say I'm looking forward to a bit of mothering!

Miss you all, please keep in touch xox

Exciting Post and Awful Clubs!

Firstly, thank you so much to Misses Jo, Tamara, Kelly and Sarah, and Ash (who is not a Miss, although he does have a girl's name) for my lovely package which I received today, and which has made me ridiculously happy! My fear of running out of Vegemite has been momentarily averted!

In news from the life of Georgia - went out last night (as I am now working Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, so thought I should make the most of it) with Eric, his sister Alli who is visiting, and a couple of his friends to a fondue place in Montmartre. For 20euro you get all you can eat fondue (but I feel I should point out that you can't eat that much fondue), plus wine which is drunk out of baby bottles, an aspect which I found quite bizarre and a little disturbing. Anyway, we ate and drank there, before heading down to Le Duplex, a club near the Arc de Triomphe.

I feel I should note that I was a bit hesitant about this club. It didn't seem like it would be my sort of thing, but I allowed myself to be convinced that it would be okay....

Never again! From now on I will continue following my instincts of dislike! So, unsurprisingly, I got very bored very quickly and left.

We currently have Slater, a friend who is travelling around Europe by himself for 6 months, staying with us, so when I got home (at about 3) I crept round the apartment, using my phone as a light. It wasn't until about 10 minutes had passed that I realised Slater and Steph were still out, and I'd been creeping round for nothing. Idiot.

Anyway, off to class and then straight to work for me now!

Last Few Days

In my most important and exciting news, I am now employed! Had an interview last Tuesday at Le Truskel, my favourite bar in Paris, and started on Saturday night. Spent the evening going round collecting glasses, and fighting my way through the crowd, but it was still quite fun. I have never had so much attention from men in my entire life (it actually got really irritating), and the music there is literally my ipod playlist. It's fantastic! Am working again tomorrow night for a couple of hours, to get training on the bar, and then again Friday and Saturday nights. Great way to save money!

So, Sunday night we had trivia, of course. Wandered down with Misa, waited for Joe, and we cracked open our bottle of gin. Misa's lover, Archie, came down with a couple of his friends, so they made their own team. Joe and I were pretty much the only ones drinking the gin, so by the end of the quiz I was a little tipsy... Unfortunately, we came second in a tie break, the prize for which is a round of shots. Joe wisely headed home, but Misa and I decided to party on, with a guy who apparently won American Big Brother, and his fiancee. So we headed across Pont Neuf to The Highlander, because The Thistle was closing, and stayed out til quite late. I have no recollection of getting home... I did make scrambled eggs at Misa's place though.

Anyway, yesterday I dragged myself to class for what I thought would be a rather painful 4 hours. Happily, my second class was cancelled! So I went home and waited for Slater, a friend of ours who arrived in from Berlin last night.

Just trying to get through some uni work so that I can do something fun tonight, and then class tomorrow and work. Boring :(