The Move

(So, after not blogging for about a year I've decided to give it another go...no promises though.)

I have just moved to Paris. Today!

6 hours ago I stepped off the plane and met my new roommate for the first time at the airport. She has a car so offered to come pick me up. I'm renting a room in her apartment in an eastern suburb of Paris. I had heard that the eastern suburbs were not as nice or 'chic' as those in the west - but this area seems pretty nice. It has everything I think I'll need - a few grocery stores, a bank, pharmacies, and a sushi restaurant on my street!

4 hours ago I was unpacking my suitcases and setting things up in my room. It's already fully furnished and decorated in a fun purple. There is even a mini fireplace - it's fake but still nice :) I'm only going to be living here until the end of January when my roommate's sister is moving in - but this is definitely a great place to stay until then :)

3 hours ago I went wandering around my new neighbourhood. I had checked out the area on Google Maps so had a weird feeling of deja-vu as I went wandering around local streets this afternoon. My first stop was the supermarket. I love French supermarkets. I especially just love looking at all the things they have in the dairy aisle. My first order of business was to buy some cheese and then some interesting looking goat-milk yogurt. Then I stopped at a health food store for a gluten-free baguette - and some random healthy items.

Now after eating a lot of cheese and taking a hot shower I'm working hard to stay awake till at least 10pm. On my last trip overseas I made the mistake of sleeping right away - and it took me a week to get over jet lag. That's not happening this time.

Happy 2011!!

I arrived back in Nice Saturday morning after about 9.5 hours on an airplane. I love flying but I don't really like super long flights - it is too long to sit. I do like the airplane food though. Mostly the cute little containers it comes in. Unfortunately this time they forgot that I had ordered a gluten-free meal. :( At first I thought I'd just have to be hungry but in the end they gave me a business-class meal...which was amazing! Real cutlery, butter in the shape of a flower, salad with goat cheese and walnuts and chicken and beef with a mustard dipping sauce :) People around me were totally jealous ;)

Sunday morning on the way to church I passed the same accordian-playing man sitting at the side of the street that I always see. Every time I walk by he says a friendly 'Bonjour Mademoiselle'. Usually I look straight ahead and walk by quickly. Living in Nice, my creepy-guy radar is highly sensitive and I've discovered that it's better just to ignore someone then to have them try to engage you in conversation. That said, I always felt a little bit guilty ignoring accordian man. This time I decided to be polite. So when he said hello I glanced his way with a smile said a quick 'bonjour' of my own. He wasn't what I expected at all and I have to admit I was a bit charmed. He is the cutest little man, probably a gyspy, with enormous blue eyes and a huge smile. It's funny when people aren't like what you think they will be.

Since being back in Nice I haven't been sleeping very well at all. Prob a lot of this is because of jet lag - but some of it is definitly because of the cats fighting outside my window. I never knew that cats fought so much - or that it could be so loud. I woke up to what sounded like babies screaming and a lot of hissing and growling. They were right outside my window. :P I am super tempted to chuck some water on them next time it happens. (cat lovers: I also love cats and I think that this would be the kind thing to do and not let them kill each other!) I think might start keeping a glass of water by my bed and we'll see.

Anyway, hopefully this will just be the first of many blog posts in 2011 ;)