At métro stop Passy, 16e arrondissement

"look at the sky..."

MacDo

If you were wondering what the fast food in France is like, here's your answer: McDonald's (or MacDo, as it's not-so-fondly called here in France) brand-new goat cheese wrap!

These ads just went up in all the métro stations. Weirdly enough, the picture doesn't make it look that bad - but as we all know with fast food, what you see is rarely what you get...

On the other hand, I did go to a Quick - that's France's home-grown response to McDonald's. I think I heard it's now owned by the company that owns Burger King. Anyways, a few weekends ago, partway into sharing a bottle of rosé with a friend, I decided that I had not eaten enough that day. So we "quickly" (ha ha...so witty) found a Quick, and I picked up a vanilla milkshake with a shot of espresso in it for 1€. Yep, you read that right: one euro. Now, if it's just a once-in-a-while kind of thing, that's a fast food deal I can certainly live with!

Guess I should hang onto this after all...

...and by "this" I meant a photocopy of a map of the 8ème arrondissement that the staff at the CUPA office kindly made for me to help me find my way to look at a potential place to live where I will be living this fall!

How did this all come about, you ask? Well, since I was the first CUPA student to arrive and visit the CUPA office, the staff was kind enough to tip me off to a potential housing opportunity: a room available for rent in the apartment of a professor and his wife.

When I walked into the apartment for the first time and saw the antique harp sitting in the corner, I had a feeling that this was just too serendipitous not to happen...

The area is centrally-located, beautiful and safe; there's a nearby organic market; and I have my own bathroom - what's not to love? The closest métro stop is Villiers (ligne 3), in case you were wondering. The professor told me there's even a bus from that leaves from a spot close by and goes directly to the Sorbonne!

My French horoscope got one thing right - les planètes did indeed me gâtent cette semaine (the planets spoiled me this week)! Planets, fate, divine intervention, serendipity, chance - call it what you will, but I think my friend was right when he observed that I do seem to "always land on my feet" when I travel abroad.

So for those of you who have been worrying about the fact that I flew to France without a place to live, ne vous inquiétez pas - I move in Thursday!

Vue de la Seine

Not the greatest photo, but here's a view of the Seine river from the apartment where I'm staying. Early evening, that's why the trees in the back are lit up (which is why I took the picture in the first place). If you followed the métro line from left to right over the Seine, you'd be headed towards the Quai de la Gare stop on M6 (green) line. The Bibliothèque nationale de France (national library) can also be seen from this same window!

Must sleep now, if I follow through on my plan to go jogging tomorrow morning...when I first arrived I was thrilled to see a few pairs of French people jogging along the Seine (including some very fit pompiers - firemen), so I won't look like an idiot (as I did the one time I tried running in Lisieux, Normandy!)