Au Bientot Gina

And then, after a day of shopping and last-chance eating, it was Gina's turn to go. It's like an Agatha Christie vacation.

I missed breakfast that morning, but she came to my room after to deliver a care package of left-over goodies including: anti-diarrhea pills, sink detergent, and crackers (I added these to Don's stash of picnic supplies), and to give me the scoop on the new tenants.

At breakfast she had sat with bunch of japanese who had come in last night, and she instructed them to come to me with any questions. lol. She also said to look for Miho, who giggles at anything anyone tells her.

We took some last minute pictures in her hobbit room (including the re-enactment of her hiiting her head on the roof), brought down her bags, the shuttle came and then she was gone. Au revoir Gina! Better see you in the City wearing your tiger dress.

My Baguette

So Gina came by this morning totally sick, She thinks she has a virus and decided to rest most of the day. Don wasn't anywhere to be seen, so we thought he pulled a "paul" on us and snuck out on his last day to skateboard.

It was really quiet, so I went jogging in the Luxembourgs Gardens which is always an awesome experience. Afterwards, I was ready for lunch. Since I had some cheese and sardines at the dorm, I bought a baguette instead of a sandwich for my lunch. And they just gave it to me with a little piece of paper to carry. Though I was a little concerned about the hygene issue, I felt really french. Sadly I wasn't wearing a stripey shirt or a beret, but I did start talking in that fake "frenchie" accent.

A little bit after lunch, Gina came down to ask if I would go with her to the pharmacy, but when Sister MJ found out about her illness, she sent us to the clinic. After a ten-step walk into the courtyard next door, I left Gina in the capable and english-speaking.

Later, right before dinner, Don appeared. He had been sick all day and in his room. They figured they got food poisoning from the smoked salmon they for appetizer yesterday (and that I missed because I was late. Who knew that would pay off one day?).

So it was totally sucked that Don was sick on his last day. Gina has an extra one at least.

Classes? Ummm...What Classes?

It's time to play Super Hyper Skip School Day!

The Players:

Don: growing increasingly frustrated by his french class and the uses of "qui", "que", and "quoi".

Gina: has decided to stop the madness of "il y a", "pendant", and "depuis", and study Italian instead

Carlos: like his french class, but is very susceptible to peer pressure, especially when he has to study more passe compose

The Goal: Skip Class

Objective: Achieved!

Methodology: It was a beautiful day, and there I was all ready for school, apple and bescherelle in hand, when two non-adolescent truants virtually forced me to accompany them on aday filled with delinquency.

In reality, I had overslept, missed breakfast, and had just gotten out of the shower when Gina knocked on my door and said, "We're skipping. Skip too!". I said ,"Naaah". She said, "C'mon". I said, "Okay". I finished getting dressed and at 9am on the dot, we were out on the street heading towards Jardin de Luxembourg.

Gina wanted to follow Rick Steve's walking tour of the Marais, so we headed to the start of the route at Place de la Bastille. We strated off walking by the Pantheon, we're we had a small pit stop for Gina to buy souvenirs and for Don to purchase a dashing ethnic scarf that will probably get him arrested in the US.

From there, we stopped at Gaudeamus for a coffee break, since we'd been walking for 20 minutes and were tired. Then we crossed the Siene and took a leisurely up to Bastille. passing a building housing the police horse academy along the way.

It's cool, how behind the doors of a lot of buildings, there are whole new things and structures happening. You can go in the front door a totally normal looking apartment house and instead of a lobby you find stairs leading up to a bocci ball court, or a whole new set of buildings, or a garden with fountains. In the courtyard next door to the dorm there's a hospital and a little house.
From Place de la Bastille, we headed to Place des Vosges, where we hung out for a little bit and went to see Victor Hugo's house. Then we went back to the main street to find the apartment where Jim Morrison died (I tell you, Rick Steve can surprise you sometimes). The apartment now houses a podiatrist.
From there we went back to Hotel de Sully to take more pictures, and continued on the walk heading to the Rue de Rosiers to have falafels. The streets get really twisty and we took a couple of wrong turns, but after running into Courtney and Danielle, we finally made it to the resturant where we spent a relaxing time with our food (and trying to take secret pictures of the waiters).Afterwards, we looked around the shops for a bit, lost Gina at a place called La Piscine, found her sitting pretty on the steps of a church, and then decided to go to take the metro to the Pere Lachaise Cemetary.

Today's Introduction- 7/11

This is Gina. She was in my San Francisco orientation and lives in Alameda with her boyfriend Arthur and their dog. She's works as an occupational therapist, but in her past life used to be a go-go dancer at 1015. She can quote all the lines from "Heathers", likes to eat, and is glad there's someone else "to be snarky with" (I don't know who she's talking about). Gina is upset about two things: The fact that they assigned her a tiny maid's room with a very low ceiling, and that with all the classes and the cultural activities, her shopping time has been severely compromised. Bonjour Gina!

And What Else Is Going On?

In the afternoon, I ran some errands and then met the rest of the group for a cultural tour of St. Germain de Pres.

Madame Dominique was a charming guide, but it was still boring, so Gina and I skipped out the back stairs of the theater we were visiting and walked up St. Michel to the Seine. We flanneured around and took some pictures and then went for a drink at the Pub St. Germain, which was horrendously expensive for what we got: Gina a very slushy and sweet Mojito, and a filled-to-the-brim-with-Cassis Kir for me. But it was still fun (be on the lookout for a post about soap).

Then we walked around the Luxembourg Gardens, stopped by Monop...to buy snacks (including the fore mentioned cutest snack ever!), and headed back to the dorm for nun dinner. Today's menu: grapefruit, meatloaf nuggets wrapped in bacon, green salad, french/American/freedom fries, brie cheese course, and semolina pudding.

Later on, I took a walk to Monoprix to buy some nun-friendly-lenght pajama shorts and school supplies. I love my new Trapper Keeper!

You Can't Lie to Nuns

They'll know.

Gina left the skylight window in her room open during class, and, of course, it rained. When she came back to her weirdly shaped mini-dorm room, there was a huge puddle and the floor was warped.

She was thinking of telling the nuns that the floor was like that when she got there, but like she said "you can't lie to a nun". Plus, she already got in trouble for taking the Lord's name in vain. LOL