3-day weekend...heck yes!

Monday I woke up bright and early. It was only a 4-day week! Which means 3-day weekend! That day was good...I did some work on the EU presidency and then after work I went to Cafe Flore, had an espresso and did the soduko in DirectSoir and finished a book. It was wonderful and relaxing and the perfect thing to do that afternoon. Then I went across the street and checked out the St-Germain-des-Pres cathedral- it's the oldest church in Paris! There was a service going on so I couldn't play tourist but I did take a little look. I'll have to research it more properly later. More properly? That just sounds weird. I went to the store on my way home and grabbed dinner fixins. Hal and Paul came over later that night because it was their last night in Paris!! How sad is that?! I told them that they should go see the Eiffel Tower as a last good-bye and expecially because it is blue (for the EU Presidency...it has 13 stars on it, too). Well, they liked that idea so we actually went! We went there, saw it, and then caught the last trains back. It was nice. The tower is carolina blue so it's bright and pretty. I bet it's really neat every hour when the other lights sparkle. We said our good-byes to Paul, but he said he would visit next year. I sure hope so! Sometimes I can't believe I haven't always known the people I met this year. It's going to be so strange without them around. We got home around one and I was exhausted so I went to bed. John fell asleep packing (he was getting ready to go to London for a week) but then his girlfriend's mom called at 2:30am to get a password for his internet so she could turn in some homework. I felt really bad that Christina had to go through all that trouble just to turn in homework but I was surprised (and maybe a little relieved) that no one was dead. I mean, nothing good happens after midnight, right? So, after that little episode of having to wake John so Christina's mom would stop calling I finally got some good sleep.

Tuesday morning was hectic. I got on the metro around the time I usually do, but it took me half an hour to get about 5 stops! I was going to be extra-super-duper late for work. And there was a staff meeting that morning. Blast. There was a big problem on our line with technical difficulties, passenger problems, and who knows what all. So, at Hotel de Ville, our conductor advised everyone who could get off to do so. I was 5 stops away from work, about a mile and a half, but I was not going to stand in that sweaty train any longer. Plus, I had my flats on and my heels in a bag, my iPod was on, so I just enjoyed a walk down Rue du Rivoli at 9:30am. Some things were opening up, people were already shopping, and Paris was getting busy. If I had time to just lounge around it would have been lovely, but I had things to do. It was still nice, though. I was going to take a bus, but as I found out later, the RER A had an unexpected strike so everyone was taking the bus, too. Something was going on underground. It was madness. I got to work a little after 9:45 and was so embarrassed that I'd missed the meeting. Then, I ran into Tallie who informed me the meeting was moved back to 10am! Praise the Lord!! I was EARLY! Haha. John came in and I apologized profusely for being late, but he didn't seem to have a problem with it. Phew! It was all good. The meeting went off without a hitch and then I went back to work. That evening I walked to Hotel des Invalides and saw Napoleon's Tomb. It was free that night so that was good, too. The Dome de l'Eglise is covered in gold and visible pretty much everywhere. I loved it. Everything was so old and ornate and like, yay Napoleon. I don't know, it was just neat. Alexandre Dumas is entombed there, too. I went to the military museum at the Ecole Militaire which is right next to the church and there is a great (What looks) new museum on Charles de Gualle. I really didn't know that much about him, but he was an amazing fellow. He took France through a lot- WWII, the Algerian War of Independence, the 5th republic, just a lot of really influential yet recent things that have happened in France. It was a good thing to see. I recommend it. It's not really the typical tourist thing, but it is neat. I went home, cooked dinner and enjoyed having the apartment all to myself. Glorious silence. Not that John is loud at all (sometimes I don't even know he's home and he just pops out of his room like magic!) but there's a certain vacant aura that only occurs when it's just me, the projector screen, and a good bottle of wine. :-) I talked to my parents and then went to bed.

Wednesday morning I got up ready for the day. I was to be involved in a meeting of all the heads of each department of the Embassy- including L'Ambassadeur- so I had to look good. I got this cute shirt that reminds me of a cross between Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn so I wore that. And it's a corally-pink color so I was feeling pretty. And as my mom always says, "Look good, feel good." (Right Liz?) I got on the metro and don't you know I'm standing right next to a boy reading a book in English. It intruiged me and I was feeling social so I asked him if he was American. He wasn't. It was better: English. We had a nice conversation and he asked for my name so he could look me up on Facebook. (Ohh technology) He seemed nice and he worked at a law firm right next to the Eiffel Tower aaaand he spoke English (With an accent!) so I decided that seeing him again wouldn't kill me. I got to work, had my meeting (John introduced me and said 3 things about me: went to Sciences Po, going to GT next year, and daughter of 2 Navy pilots, to which Stapes (that's the Ambassador) replied "More on that later!" which we all chuckled about.) It was an interesting enough meeting. Everyone basically updated the Ambassador on what he or she was doing. One department in charge of security told a story about a Russian who had been arrested in Monaco the other day. He was Wanted in New York for a bunch of murders and all this stuff that basically just showed he was not a good guy. So the arrest went down as follows: Man's bank account gets frozen so he leaves town for a few days. USEMB Paris asks Monaco police to keep an eye on his local hangouts, apartment, etc. Monaco police do so, but then one day (I think it was Friday) decide they don't want to have to do surveillance all weekend so they decided to knock on man's door. Man answers door. Monaco police ask if he is the man they are looking for and he says yes, his name is such-and-such. Monaco police arrest him. Haha! Isn't that awesome?! We all had a good laugh about that. We're just glad that man is caught now. The meeting ended and I worked on the EU Presidency calendar (translated it from French to English) and other random things. After work I went to the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie to see Annie Liebovitz's expostion "A Photographer's Life." It was really neat and I got to see a lot of famous pictures that I'd seen in magazines and stuff- even the Demi Moore pregnant one. There was one of Bush and his cabinet members. That struck me a bit. It was strange seeing that man that I'd met in this gallery. Of course, he looked completely different now because that was just when he'd taken Office, but still. The exposition was interesting and I'm glad I saw it. There wasn't much thinking involved, just looking at pictures. She's very talented. She was the one who took those controversial photos of Miley Cyrus a few months back. So that was neat. I grabbed food at the Franprix close by and went home and ate dinner. I checked my e-mail and Facebook and found a message from John the Brit! He asked me to drinks that night so I went, of course. We had a great time and talked about so much stuff. He asked me about American politics and I asked him to say certain British words so I could hear his cute accent. Basically tit-for-tat, right? A little after midnight we still wanted to hang out but I couldn't go too far because I needed to get home for work in the morning, so we went to his apartment and watched "Four Weddings and a Funeral" (man after my own heart- please, that's like one of my favorite movies!) and I ended up falling asleep there. He knew I was tired so just let me stay, as if I was one of his "mates" or something. I couldn't believe I'd just spoken to him that morning. Haha. He said I was very brave to just speak randomly to him like that. I said I am my mother's daughter. :-D And thank goodness for that!!!

I set my alarm just in case I did end up falling asleep chez lui and I got up at 7, went home (with all my neighbors, vegetable/fruit vendors, butchers thinking I'd been up to something naughty the night before...great, as if they need more to talk about) showered, and got to work right on time! I didn't run into any cute British guys on the way in, but I figure everyday can't be a party. I know I always say this and nothing ever does, but "we'll see what happens with him." He's here a little longer than I am so we could potentially see each other quite a bit before I leave, but since I only have a few more weeks here...I don't know. What I do know is that it's "Friday" and it's a 3-day weekend this weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to be doing lots of touristy things and then going to a July 4th Cook-Out (Barbeque) at the Residence. I'm really excited! July 4th just kinda snuck up on me, but it's one of my favorite holidays. I love America. The rest of my day was all right. I wrote a mini-report on digital dividends and the switch over from analog to digital in the coming months/years and then got assigned a project to do a summary of the whole Intellectual Property Rights subject, of which I was involved at the very beginning of my internship. So that's cool. I went to the Tuileries gardens and read for a bit but it was chilly. Who knows what's in store for tonight. :-)