Day 106: Last Day of School!

Listening to: "School's Out" by Alice Cooper

Wh-hooooo! Last day of classes! 

Yep. You couldn't get rid of me that easily. Muahahaha.

Anyway. I do plan to catch up! In my total nerdy fashion, I see writing blog posts as a reward for completing other assignments. Because talking about myself is fun...for maybe just me? And not even for me, most of the time, when I'm sharing candids like this:

No shame! Well, maybe a little. But that's part of my strategy. Turns out, no one is excited to share a picture of you in Snoopy socks and sandals when you act completely nonchalant about it. The squealing and protests only gives people more incentive to embarrass you.

Let's talk about Paris!

Today is the official Last Day of Classes. So naturally, after taking our last French quiz, our class went out and celebrated in style: with coffee and French bread. I think my café of choice will be quite peeved to know I was somewhere else. Oh, mon Dieu! 

You know, I love Paris, but seeing this menu made me miss Italy and the 4 euro cappuccino in the "expensive" breakfast place. >:o

Is DC worse? New York? I guess prices are always terrible in the place you live longterm.

Well, at least it's pretty. But it definitely does NOT resemble what I ordered over the weekend.

So in typical Katie Willard fashion, I have been spending copious amounts of time examining a map I stole from my cab driver yesterday, planning out my Last Days in Paris. I'm pretty sure I'm just going to label everything I do like that: Last Time Petting Kitty at Shakespeare & Co., Last Time Almost Stepping in Crap on the Street, Last Time Ordering an Earl Grey Tea in French, Last Time Cleaning the Dishes of Unidentified Food, Last Time Breathing in Cigarette Smoke from French Voyeurs, Last Time Someone Gives Me an Eiffel Tower Keychain. So many to experience! In so little time!

Anyway, I'm writing down my plan here so I feel the need to stick to it rather than, say, lounge all day on my bed and eat my St. Michele cookies from Monoprix.

French Bucket List - TWO WEEK NOTICE

In order of importance.

1.) Visit Normandy and the American Cemetery.
2.) Go to Chenonceau and revel in Catherine de Medici's genius to steal the castle from her husband's mistress.
3.) Go to Giverny and pretend I'm in a Monet painting. (Giverny is where Monet's house is. Turns out he was a rather lazy painter, if you ask me: he painted basically where he had to go, and he lived like a hermit in Giverny toward the end of his life. Although that might not be so bad...)
4.) See the fountains at Versailles and therefore skip all the _____ tourists taking selfies in the Hall of Mirrors.
5.) Visit the Pablo Picasso Museum, which admittedly is one of many Picasso Museums across Europe.
6.) Go to Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Sublist Time! Which Famous Dead Dudes Do I Visit at Paris's Largest Cemetery?

1.) Gertrude Stein (self-explanatory, and if you don't get it, I'll chase after you with a rolled-up newspaper like I've seen a mother do here)
2.) Oscar Wilde (to quote him pretentiously)
3.) Jim Morrison (because it's so random)
4.) Frederic Chopin (because I play piano)
5.) Henri Salvador (he sang a song we listened to in French class; that's enough to garner a grave visit from me, apparently)
6.) Basically any grave with the description "mathématicien" or "écrivain" (because if you haven't figured it out by now, I'm a NERD)
7.) An unmarked grave (because Jean Valjean is buried in an unmarked grave at the cemetery, at least in the Les Misérables universe)

Side Note: I told Jamie about the Valjean thing and she paused and said, "Wait, Jean Valjean is real?" Oh, I wish. Still, even with this warning and anecdote, I wonder how many people are going to ask me if Jean Valjean is really buried in Paris for real. :/

Original List Continued...

7.) Walk inside the Palais Garnier. (Try to find a creepy lake below and probably get kicked out by security.)
8.) Go up and hang out Montparnasse Tower, my last "cheesy place to take a citywide panorama" photo opportunity.
9.) Visit Samuel Beckett at the Montparnasse Cemetery. 
10.) Walk through the WWI and WWII exhibitions at the Musée de l'Armée. (It's only RIGHT NEXT DOOR. I am a lazy person.)
11.) Take a picture of the outside of my apartment.
12.) Blow all my money on the Champs-Elysées. (Kidding! Or am I...?)
13.) Visit Disneyland Paris specifically to ride the Ratatouille ride and eat the "gray stuff" (it's delicious.
14.) Hang a surrogate Lock of Love for me and Jamie! :D
15.) Buy a Latin Quarter hat so I can look even more pretentious when I read Ulysses in public.
16.) Enjoy Luxembourg Gardens when it's actually sunny out!
17.) One last time with the oldies but goodies: Marie Curie, Kitty at Shakespeare & Co., Eiffel Tower(?), etc.
18.) Finally figure out what this La Défense arch is.
19.) If I have to choose, visit the Centre Pompidou and NOT the Pompidou Hospital!

Sort of in order of importance. I'm terrible at figuring out my priorities because I just want EVERYTHING.

Ahhhhhhhhhh.

Any more suggestions? You've only got a limited opportunity before I become a regular American instead of remaining a cool, cynical expatriate who thinks she's waaaaay too much like F. Scott Fitzgerald. :)