hey everyone. At the moment it's 4.41pm and i'm sitting at my desk eating an entire packet of maltesers. miam miam!
Today we went to the Laverie in town to wash nici's clothes - cost a bit, but otherwise i can't be bothered hand-washing them myself. The men there were very nice - the instructions weren't clear, so they explained how to use the machine. 3.50 euro for one wash, plus 1 euro to use the dryer. I didn't do the dryer - just hung my clothes out in my room and put the heater on maximum. El-cheapo, student style!
hmm then we went back to CIEP, then went out to the Eiffel Tower. The crowds were huge, no one there spoke french - it was all tourists - although the appartment blocks surrounding it looked a bit dodgy. There were a lot of black guys learing at you trying to sell your souvenirs. The trick is just not to look at them - although once, i think it was yesterday, as i moved away one of them grabbed my arm - not good, but it's not like he held on hard or anything.
I had a wauffre (waffle), an and amanda had crepes. The Eiffel Tower is a lot fatter in real life that the photos make out. We then walked through Trocadero (some important building, not sure why) and went to l'Hotel de Ville, where there was iceskating!
Iceskating is the best fun ever. When we first got on i was a little weak on my feet - i've never been iceskating before, and i hadn't rollerbladed in something like 9 years! I got the movement going - slowly slowly. Unfortunately because there were a lot of people, the ice was very wet in patches, and i slipped in a puddle early on. But as we kept going i got my groove back! i was going around fast, taking corners, stopping properly, keeping it moving - i loved it. There were a lot of tools (read: immigrants) thinking they're cool by doing skids and mucking around people who obviously weren't as comfortable as they are on skates. Absolute tools. There was a group of 3 greek girls who were cheering us on - we talked to them for a few minutes in english, they took some photos of us. There was a group of guys chatting us up a bit - i raced a couple of them around the ice, although they could have beat me they still thought i was pretty good - although none of them are good looking so we won't be seeing them again. After that an and amanda went shopping but i came back here to relax. I caught the metro again - i love just sitting there and listening to/watching french people. It's quite interesting - but i'm starting to learn they're just like us - for example, there was this idiot woman in the laverie this morning - they have their uncultured morons just as much as we do. So i went home, bought some more water, some washing powder for next time i go to the laverie (you have to pay 80 centimes (euro cents) a wash, and it's cheaper to bring your own) and maltesers (it's ok, i've finished them now).
So i'm at home. I'm not good with activities - i prefer to sit and relax. This schedule is killing me - i'm so tired every morning, and when i get tired i get narky with people who i feel are wasting my time. I don't mean to be such a bitch - i've been trying to be really friendly - but sometimes i can't help it.
We're going out tonight. Hopefully we'll meet sarah et al there... should be good to go out in a big group. If not, i might just go to a movie with laurence - he said that's what he wanted to do.
Oh, and on the way home on the metro (which i'm really starting to feel comfortable in) i saw an ad, and a person had written "nicola" on it (as in, graffitti). So i took photos. Re comfortableness: when i'm on the lines i know best (e.g. 1, and 9) i feel all gooey and warm like i'm on my home train line in Melbourne. I could be a parisienne!
Also, an and amanda took most of the photos of ice skating - i didn't want to take my camera out at the start, by the end i couldn't be bothered. So i'll upload those photos when i get them later.
Finally, to my mother: you've known me for 20+ years.
pS: pinch and a punch for the first day of the month no returns.
