In case you’re new here I spent a month in Paris when I was 17. It was a graduation gift to me; and Uncle Sam. We went with a local Community College as a group of about 30 people. We stayed in the dorms at La Citè.
My room was on the troisième floor, which in America would actually be the 4th floor not the 3rd. The first floor is 0 in France and most of Europe for some strange reason. This was also the top floor of the dorm. My room was in the corner of the building by the street which meant that I could look out my window and see a beautiful park.
The windows in these rooms opened inward and had very deep sills. I spent quite a bit of time sitting in my window doing my homework. The buildings were old enough that they had large stone ledges around the outside of the building. Being on the top floor the roof sloped away pretty quickly from the ledge. I also spent time standing on the ledge and leaning against the roof.
I was hanging out with my friend Lily one day when it started to get late. We had class the next day and decided to call it a night. Lily had apparently forgotten her key. Her roommate was already asleep and wouldn’t wake up to the knocking on the door, or the ringing of the phone.
We looked out one of my rooms windows and saw that her roommate had left the window open. There was no AC in this building. Having been in the rock climbing club in High School I have no fear of heights or hanging onto stone with my bare hands.
Since her bedroom window was open I decided to walk along the ledge outside the building to get into her window and let her into her room. Needless to say when I jumped down inside her dorm room her roommate woke up. Pounding on the door? No. Screaming telephone? No. 17 year old girl landing in her room? YES!
She wasn’t very happy. She started screaming at me to “Get out!!” I tried to calm her down by letting her know who I was but that just seemed to make her even angrier. She actually got out of bed and started chasing me towards the door.
Meanwhile Lily is waiting out in the hall for me to open the door. When I finally get there to open it she has this huge smile on her face, like she’s trying very hard not to laugh. I’m sure had I seen a mirror I would have seen the same expression on my face.
We both laughed our asses off about it the next day. Thought it was the funniest thing on the trip so far. This was about one week in. There was a lot more hilarity after this.
Our teacher from the states, who grew up in Paris and wasn’t staying at the dorms, came to talk to me the next day. Tried to yell at me and tell me he was going to send me home early. When I explained the situation and what we had tried first he changed his mind. This woman, whose name escapes me, was less than pleased to see me on the bus for the field trip the next day.
She tried to get the rest of the students after me too. When Lily and I explained what had happened they all laughed along with us. She didn’t make very many friends in Paris.
Come back later for more installments of my fun times in Paris. Like the time three of us chased a beggar off the metro.
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Friday, August 08, 2008
Bastille Day 1996
In 1996 I tested out of high school. I only stayed long enough to go to my senior prom, what a nightmare but that's another post. I was going to college at night and high school during the day and had been for 2 years. I was sick of school.
As a graduation gift to myself, and ostensibly to earn more college credits, I took out a student loan and spent a month in Paris. I have lots of stories to tell and lots of things I miss.
I went with a group from my local community college and lived in the dorms at La Citè. We attended classes at the Sorbonne. We all know the real reason to go there was to party like it was 1999. There were many nights where we didn't get back to the dorm until 3 or 4 in the morning. Hey! I was 17 and in a foreign country with no parental supervision. I was going to study?
We went during the month of July. I missed my favorite holiday. The 4th. But I was in Paris for Bastille Day. The 14th. Bastille Day is France's independence day. It is so called because in 1789 the French proletariat stormed the Bastille, Paris's main jail, which they felt was a symbol of the corrupt political system. It was the beginning of the French Revolution and the beginning of the downfall of the Monarchy.
The entire city shuts down and huge parties are held everywhere. Even along the banks of the Seine River that runs through the middle of Paris. My two best Paris buddies and I found ourselves along the banks of the Seine partying all night long. We danced and drank cheap French wine and ate good food and had a huge blast. One of my friends, Anastacia, was a line dancer back home in LA. She would go to cowboy bars and dance several times a week. She knew them all. The Achy Breaky, The Boot Scoot Boogy, and most importantly the Electric Slide.
Lily and I didn't know any of these dances. Stacia decided to teach us the Electric Slide since it was the easiest. So there we were, three american girls that spoke bad French at best, on the banks of the Seine river in Paris at a huge party doing the Electric Slide. We were having fun and ignoring everybody else. After about 5 minutes of us doing this constantly, the music never stopped, we started to gain an audience. People were noticing we were doing the same moves, in unison, and too the beat.
I don't remember how exactly it happened but our audienced eventually turned into students. We were teaching the young, what we thought were the cool, French how to do the Electric slide. By the end of the night we had about 200 people behind us doing the Electric slide along the banks of the Seine to European techno music. We only stopped when we were about to fall down. This was about 2 am. We'd been dancing since 4 pm.
The thing that really makes this story great is the fact that we missed the last Metro to La Citè by about 15 minutes. So we had to walk. At 2 AM. Through the middle of Paris. In our "Party Clothes". Three young, attractive, American girls walking through Paris, half-drunk, trying to find our way back home. Needless to say we found we didn't find La Citè. We DID find an all night Mickey D's and a phone book to call a cab. Which only cost us about $10.
So not a bad evening. I'm surprised I can remember most of it. come back tomorrw so i can tell you more tales of my exploits in Paris. Like the time I was walking around on the 4th story ledge of my dorm.
As a graduation gift to myself, and ostensibly to earn more college credits, I took out a student loan and spent a month in Paris. I have lots of stories to tell and lots of things I miss.
I went with a group from my local community college and lived in the dorms at La Citè. We attended classes at the Sorbonne. We all know the real reason to go there was to party like it was 1999. There were many nights where we didn't get back to the dorm until 3 or 4 in the morning. Hey! I was 17 and in a foreign country with no parental supervision. I was going to study?
We went during the month of July. I missed my favorite holiday. The 4th. But I was in Paris for Bastille Day. The 14th. Bastille Day is France's independence day. It is so called because in 1789 the French proletariat stormed the Bastille, Paris's main jail, which they felt was a symbol of the corrupt political system. It was the beginning of the French Revolution and the beginning of the downfall of the Monarchy.
The entire city shuts down and huge parties are held everywhere. Even along the banks of the Seine River that runs through the middle of Paris. My two best Paris buddies and I found ourselves along the banks of the Seine partying all night long. We danced and drank cheap French wine and ate good food and had a huge blast. One of my friends, Anastacia, was a line dancer back home in LA. She would go to cowboy bars and dance several times a week. She knew them all. The Achy Breaky, The Boot Scoot Boogy, and most importantly the Electric Slide.
Lily and I didn't know any of these dances. Stacia decided to teach us the Electric Slide since it was the easiest. So there we were, three american girls that spoke bad French at best, on the banks of the Seine river in Paris at a huge party doing the Electric Slide. We were having fun and ignoring everybody else. After about 5 minutes of us doing this constantly, the music never stopped, we started to gain an audience. People were noticing we were doing the same moves, in unison, and too the beat.
I don't remember how exactly it happened but our audienced eventually turned into students. We were teaching the young, what we thought were the cool, French how to do the Electric slide. By the end of the night we had about 200 people behind us doing the Electric slide along the banks of the Seine to European techno music. We only stopped when we were about to fall down. This was about 2 am. We'd been dancing since 4 pm.
The thing that really makes this story great is the fact that we missed the last Metro to La Citè by about 15 minutes. So we had to walk. At 2 AM. Through the middle of Paris. In our "Party Clothes". Three young, attractive, American girls walking through Paris, half-drunk, trying to find our way back home. Needless to say we found we didn't find La Citè. We DID find an all night Mickey D's and a phone book to call a cab. Which only cost us about $10.
So not a bad evening. I'm surprised I can remember most of it. come back tomorrw so i can tell you more tales of my exploits in Paris. Like the time I was walking around on the 4th story ledge of my dorm.
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