Paris, Je T'Aime

Today I checked out, and rejected, my first housing offer - a rented room in Montmartre, mainly because I don't want to be roomies with the old man who's renting it. The location was fine, just off the Butte de Montmartre (mad touristy), but as enamored as I am of living in Montmartre (which is to say - very, very, very, very...) it just didn't seem right. Hopefully something else will come through as my search continues.

I also got my passe Navigo, which I can use all the time on public transit, and it's really fancy and has a microchip and you just wave it around in front of a sensor to get on the metro. Okay. I know that doesn't sound very exciting, but I'm from Seattle, where public transit is kind of an afterthought, and so I am incredibly excited about my passe Navigo. It even has my picture on it.

Also, last night I met up with another assistant for dinner at Le Petit Dakar, and had Senegalese food for the first time since I was abroad. It was good, but definitely de-spiced for the benefit of the French. I mean, my nose didn't even start running. I was pretty disappointed.

After dinner we wandered around the Marais and got gelato that comes in the shape of a rose, and it was so wonderful to just walk around aimlessly and listen to all of the people eating dinner in the cafes and bars along the streets. The Marais used to be Paris's Jewish neighborhood, and it still is to a certain extent, so there are tons of felafel and bagel places around, and an art deco synagogue I have yet to stumble upon, and there's something really nice about it. It feels like a very distinct neighborhood, even though it's full of tourists quite often, one of whom asked me for directions in French yesterday. I was pretty happy about that. Once you get off of Rue de Rivoli and into the neighborhood, it turns out that the Marais gets way more quintessentially French and perfect for wandering and thinking and people watching and way less full of tourists doing tourist things.

And I love that I can just wander down to the Louvre after dinner or walk across the quai to Notre Dame and I don't even want to go in, it's just nice to be in a place that is so ridiculously beautiful all the time. Which is not to say that Paris is perfect, because it really, really isn't. I just am really enjoying being here not as a tourist but as someone who actually lives here. Although I'll feel a lot more like I live here when I actually have a place to live.

I have my orientation for my job tomorrow. I think that will help too.



Haiku for Sketchy Montmartre "Apartment":

Non pour Montmartre
Un peu sketchy, plus tourists
C'est dommage, ca.