Sunday afternoons in Paris for me are like little holidays. Friday and Saturday, although I have no classes, tend to be pretty busy, but Sundays are just lazy days here. Nothing is open apart from galleries and flea markets - it's like heaven. Today there was a market up the street selling books for 5 euros per kilo! So anyway, now that I've got my bank account open (finally) I have a credit card with a chip, so I can use the Velib' system. That's velo (bike) + liberty. It's the coolest system in the world.
You pay 5 euros per week, or 29 euros for a year, and you get access to bike stands all around the city. There is one literally right in front of our apartment building, and one literally right outside the biggest Sciences Po building. So I can type in my code and just take any of the bikes sitting there, and as long as I don't go over 30 minutes it's all paid for. The only thing I have to expend is nervous energy. Bike riding in Paris is scary. It's recommended that you wear a helmet, but the bikes don't come with them, and no one wears them. Combined with the insane traffic and unpredictable abundance of one-way streets, I feel like I'm taking my life in my hands. Parisians ride bikes on busy streets like it's the easiest thing in the world. They talk on their phones, I even saw a woman holding her baby while she was riding. Me, I need 100% of my brain power and both hands.
But Sundays are a little different. The whole city slows down. People are either hung over or enjoying the weekend with their family, or both. So today I rode down to a little florist nearby and bought a big bouquet of eucalyptus leaves. I know it's silly, but it makes me feel somehow more secure.
Right, enough soliloquising. I'm writing the script for my expose tomorrow.
OK, I'm playing a video game.
