I am happy to announce that spring has FINALLY arrived in Paris, and it looks like it is here to stay! It is already mid-April, and up until last week I was still wearing boots, my winter coat, and (always) a scarf.
Last Friday (April 12) it was my birthday, and I went out to celebrate with some friends. We went out to a restaurant called Chez Gladine where they serve basque food. We waited in line for an hour, but it was worth it! That weekend, my friend Steven (from Northwestern, who is currently studying abroad in Munich and I went to visit in February) and his friend Cameron were in Paris so they joined in my birthday celebration and I showed them around Paris a bit the rest of the weekend. After some deliciously heavy basque food, we sat outside by some (very typically Parisian) stairs, we opened a bottle of champagne and I blew out some candles. Then, we went out to a club and I bought my first legal drink as a 21-year old, but no one asked for my ID…
The rest of the weekend, I showed Steven and Cameron a little bit around Paris, but I also had to leave them to be off on their own quite a bit because I had a ton of work to do for Sciences Po… The semester is almost over (last week was the last week of classes, and after that I just have one exam in mid-may). So last week I had three final projects due on the same day. I was almost done with two of my papers before Steven and Cameron had arrived, but I did have one paper left, for a class on “multiculturalisme et égalité des chances” (multiculturalism and equality of opportunities), that I had not even started the day before it was due!
I went to the library for a few hours on Saturday and then I woke up really early on Sunday to work on it all day— I think the beautiful weather and sun motivated me to work hard and stay off Facebook, because (for the first time in my life), I wrote a 10 page, 1.5 spaced paper in one day. I wrote non-stop from 9am to 6pm, and then had Steven read it over. He approved.
Because the day was absolutely gorgeous and the days are getting really long in Paris, we had planned to do a picnic in the late afternoon (or whenever I finished my paper…). At around 6:30pm, I met Cameron, Steven, and their friend Mylena (who is doing an exchange in Paris) in front of the Eiffel Tower.
Cheese, baguettes, wine, foie gras, even…
Champ de Mars (the grassy area in front of the Eiffel Tower) was packed with people celebrating the start of a beautiful spring. We stayed pic-nicking, talking, and sipping wine until it was nighttime and the Eiffel Tower started to sparkle (literally it sparkles with some cool lights)
It was a beautiful way to end a great weekend and a great start to my 21st year of life!