Movies and Chantilly

On Thursday I was half an hour late for my French grammar test. I had 40 minutes to finish it, and I took 30. I simply messed up the time of the class, and it’s not that huge of a deal because it wouldn’t have taken the whole hour anyways. I got an 18/20 on it, which is rare in France, I guess. It’s just not good form to be late. Kim: minus 2 points.
In between class and practice, Pierre stopped by school and took my keys to my apartment.
Chorus practice was alright. I was a complete gigglefest, for reasons that take too long to explain. And Etienne, the jerk, was egging me on a bit with some incriminating jokes. Liisa was laughing along with me, on the other side of the room. I’m sure the leader, Bonni (who’s name isn’t really Bonni, but Liisa and I have concluded that it suits her better than her already-used name), thought we were completely on something. We sang. Etienne didn’t blend with me, like usual.
I come home late to Pierre making dinner. He went all out too; salmon, pork, gratin, salad…he would say otherwise, but don’t listen to him about it. It was impressive, regardless of what he says. And it was wonderful. The table was still pulled out, so we sat far away from each other, yelling to the other side of the table for our discussion.

Marketing class on Friday was hilarious. Paz and I use our laptops during class to type up notes, and to do additional research on the topic during discussions. But we also discuss stuff via Skype to each other. And we sit next to each other. I have Joris from Marseille on one side; Paz has Auriane from Chantilly on the other. It’s a wonderful blend of locals with foreigners.
ANYWAYS! Auriane just happened to be editing Paz’s French paper, and the professor happened to wear a particularly ugly sweater. Auriane commented on it via Paz’s computer, and Joris and I read it, and we were all suppressing laughs about our comments. And then we started joking (via Paz and my computers, of course) about a handful of other things. We were probably distracting. BUT I was still paying attention in class, and the professor knew I was online researching what he said, so I saved us all by participating in the conversation and supplementing it with additional numbers and facts.
After a much needed nap, I met up with the lot of us (and Joris, the French guy!) to go to Montmartre (which is slightly sketchy at night) for some fondue. We wanted to go to this really popular place with babble bottles, but we easily settled for this place called Le Paname. We shared a table of 9 and ate Fondue Savoyard with wine (white wine with cheese, bien sûr!). I talked with Joris in French the whole time.
After the fondue defeated us, we split the group (sports bar vs. real bar) and my side followed Joris to Odéon for this slightly dead cave (aka underground) bar “L’Escale”, I think. The cocktail that Joris bought was simply AMAZING, so I bought one for myself. The DJ was horrific and played the most peculiar, non-nightlife menagerie of music. Alex and I simply loved the terrible music, and we danced. Liisa joined us for some of it (girls dance party!), but mostly it was Alex and I doing the mashed potatoes to songs from the 50’s and salsa to some current Latin music. We made everyone laugh hard with our slightly ridiculous dancing, and the night was well finished.

When I signed onto the Sciences Po Chorus, they told me (nay, promised!) that we would only have one night of practice per week. They failed to tell me about the weekly supplemental practices…So Saturday, I went to a 2-hour practice. I sang alone, damn Etienne. On a plus side, I was singing so much better because he wasn’t there to mess me up!
One of the guys in chorus is super nice to me and helps me out with my endless issues. We talked after practice, and I found out he’s just on exchange from this military school in Brittany (France). He’s a second lieutenant. And I wonder to myself; do I have a French military MAGNET in my skull somewhere that someone has failed to inform me? I have been meeting and befriending so many military people here since I’ve arrived, it’s almost creepy! Anyways, we had an interesting conversation before I left early for my coffee date….
That I should have never gone to. So I put my name on this bored that says “I will speak English with you if you speak French to me”, basically, so this guy calls me and asks to meet up. Sure, I’m a nice person. I joked beforehand that I had a hot date. It was FAR from it. This guy has graduated a while ago and is in research. He is graying and balding; I mistakenly took him for homosexual at first; and, mostly, he has the personality of a 2by4. That’s a hunk of wood. Dry wood.
The hour was long, and I drank my tea too quickly. I was counting minutes. The conversation was motionless, if not placid. Yes, I’m a student. Oh, where have you gone? Nowhere? Oh, do you have any hobbies? No? Oh, alright….
Painful.
Ran home quickly to make dinner for a smaller dinner party. It took a while. Pierre and I had issues with the potato latkes, and Rimi tried to help, but to no avail. We had a lot of food for a smaller group of people. And it was decent. They all are eager to meet my parents, which I find particularly amusing. After dinner we watched the sequel to Auberge l’Espagnole, called Les Poupées Russes. We all were interacting quite verbally with the movie. It was a treat to watch. And the guys made it very clear as to which girls they thought were hot or not…

Pierre and I ended up going to a little town north of Paris, Chantilly. We wanted to go earlier, but we ended up not getting around to it until later. Pierre, being the fast walker he can be, was in a rush to get to the chateau (from the train stration) before they closed the gates. That means I was about 10 paces behind him for the 20 minute walk, half-walking-half-jogging the way. We missed it, because of me. But at least we were able to meander throughout the parks and gardens there.
The Chateau de Chantilly is actually quite picturesque. I was oggling it for the whole day, despite its overcast skies. On top of an ever-so-convenient pond/lake/moat, this slightly embellished mansion is ever-so-romantically set. The parks are quite lovely, too.
We walked around the parks and gardens for a few hours. There was a particularly romantic area (Penny would have had a HAYDAY in this area) because of the gazebo in the middle of a babbling brook with running deer nearby and grass completely surrounding the area. I was excited, to say the least.
We ended up finding this itty bitty tea salon in the middle of the park to have some hot cocoa and a spice cake. With Crème de Chantilly (the ORIGINAL whipped cream and/or cool whip). Holy heart attack! That stuff was soooooo rich! It was, dare I say, stronger than Cornish Cream! We plowed through that cream with every ounce of effort. Practically made ourselves sick on that stuff. It was delicious, but man....roll'd out of that hut!
Got a train home a little bit later and we finished off some of the leftovers from last week. We also finished a box of amazing Belgian chocolates. We watched half of "Hors de Prix" (odd little movie), but Pierre left in the middle of it to get home and sleep.
After throwing down a few hundred Euros (and a few hundred tears) for my spring break, I fell asleep faster than you can say, "Go to bed, Kim".