This weekend, my very first visitor graced me with her presence! As you might have guessed, that's right. It was our very own Aboni!! I was quite excited to see her (even though she might tell you otherwise) and it was fun to be a tour guide for a day or two. At this point, I definitely do feel acquainted with the city, so I think I'm somewhat qualified.
The visit started Friday morning. Early Friday morning. Aboni doesn't have any data so we had to be careful about coordinating meeting. Even though she came to the same bus stop I left from not 2 weeks ago, I still managed to get majorly confused (ok maybe I don't know the city that well...). I was quite late in picking her up, but I did arrive eventually. THEN, the first sign of bad luck came. Not in ALL my time in this pigeon-riddled place have I had a bird poop on me but surprise, surprise. Walking out of the bus station, this is exactly what happened to me. A bit suspicious if you ask me.
We made it to my home finally and I then had class and a tutoring session at different places. Aboni accompanied me to both and I think that's when we saw what almost was a car crash. Later, Aboni came with me to babysitting and met the little kids I watch over. She's unsurprisingly very good with them and even showed the little boy some of her moves. I think he was shocked and confused. They live on the 22nd floor of their building (usually Paris doesn't have such high buildings but theirs is an exception) and therefore have a good view of the city. From there, we saw a big fire happening :-0 That night we met with Malika and saw this movie called K Contraire. It was about this guy in Paris who had to sell ketamine. It was wild because after the movie the main character actor was there for a q+a and we were sitting really close :-) *. After dinner,
were about to go dancing but something happened (message me if you want the full story, even though it's not that big a deal) and we decided to turn back. It was ok though because that let us have more sleep!
*lol I was trying to add this to my Letterboxd and it wasn't there but then I realized that it probably has a different name in English which it does. The name is Truk which I find funny but I guess it works bc they sell the ketamine out a food truck...
The next day we
- Went to a nice cafe with good food. ABONI was keen on trying escargot. Yeah, that's right. Snails. I've been meaning to anyways, so we did what we came for. They give you a weird clamp (reminded me of a test tube holder) to take the snail and a little 2 pronged fork to spear the insides. The clamp was ineffective imo but we made it work. They douse the whole thing in a lot of garlic and butter so when I tried it, flavor-wise, it wasn't the worst. What got me was how chewy it is so that you can't really make it a fast thing. This also got Aboni apparently. She didn't even swallow it!!!!! So not a waste because now we know but I wish they had an option to give us only 3 or something so we wouldn't physically waste it.
- Saw an exhibit at the Fondation Cartier on a photographer who was living and documenting and doing activism work with a group of people in the Amazon. I thought it was good 7/10
- Tried to go to the catacombs but the line was too long and the weather too bad
- Went to Montmartre and watched a guy singing and took the funiculaire and had burgers after. Then we saw le Tour Eiffel
- I think that was the last thing that day!
Then we left early the next morning to go to the bus station. Actually, the bus point got moved because there was supposed to be a big half marathon that day. Aboni doesn't know this, but apparently, that was cancelled. Because the coronavirus, any gatherings larger than 5000 people are no longer allowed :-0
So it was a fun weekend and I missed Aboni a lot so it was good to see her finally!!
Regarding the coronavirus, I've been worrying because of how quickly numbers are rising. The Florence program was shut down within a week...But I think it'll be ok. I'm trying to be cautious but optimistic! I know I've already been here for a while, but I'd still be so sad if I had to leave before anticipated. There's still a lot of stuff I want to do when the weather is warm and I didn't think to do/was not confident enough to do at the beginning of my time when it was still summer! But yeah, I think things will work out!! Thinking about all this, I do feel a push to do the things that I've put off and should do anyways like see certain exhibits.
Today, I saw an exhibit at le Musée de la Vie Romantique about depictions of hearts in art. And I also saw one at Centre Pompidou on brains! So those were interesting to compare. Did you know back in the day, people thought our thoughts and soul and everything came from the heart? I've learned that at the beginning of like every neuro class, but it is a fun fact I think.
Duuuuuude! I got pooped on by a seagull on the same day. This is officially a conspiracy: the government have marked us for something :00. Anyway, you guys looked like you had a lot of fun!! I like the cover pic of this post, it’s very chaotic.
I love this post! You guys look like you had such a nice visit. I feel like it's always fun having a friend visit because then you can do all the touristy stuff that you haven't done yet. Also I'm just going to say it: that pigeon 😳 government spy. It's so cool that you guys are escargot. I really want to try it one day.
Hopefully, your time won't get cut short...fingers crossed.
Omg i didn’t know you were so happy to see me! I was too, but i didn’t want to be so mushy and annoying about it but this post makes me feel valid! I’m excited to see you next week! Hopefully Geneva will be more fun! Also, I actually didn’t realize you actually were taking photos of me lol. I need to smile like a normal person more often lol. Anyway good times i forgot to post about the bookstore, but yeah it was nice. The heart and brain exhibitions seem to almost be total opposites so their must be a lot of comparisons and differences you gathered huh? Anyway yeah ik what you mean corona in Switzerland rose fro…
Awwwwww!