what boarding pass?!

Guess who just tried to get on the wrong flight. It has been a long morning and it's only 6:44. We'll talk about all of this later. 

So yesterday. I couldn't sleep at all the other night because the kids on my hall were going insane. I was woken up from a dead sleep by the sound of girls' voices in the hallway. It was driving me nuts so I got up. Turns out that my lovely neighbor Alex had her door wide open and was talking to a friend as they moved Alex's five million bags out. I was still half asleep as I asked Alex if she could close the door to which she responded "ummm, of course" with a weird smile on her face that was more like "bitch, please" than "I'm so sorry for waking you up!" I really hate that girl. I got back to sleep just to be woken up by other kids in the hallway. I checked my phone to find out that it was after three in the morning. I had to be up at 7:30! I'm so glad that I'm gone from that evil place. 

I woke up at 7:30 and was just not feeling it due to all of the noise. I made my coffee and got dressed. It has been unusually warm these past few days but I still insist on dressing like an Eskimo. I got myself a few scoops of mash potatoes and sat down at my computer. I was going to leave early so that I could print my French presentation, but of course 8:14 arrived before I intended it to and I had to rush out the door. I saw Morgan when I got downstairs and we walked to school together. She said that the kids next door to her had been noisy the other night too. I then told her about my favorite drinking stories that I had overheard from the kids. Turns out that I'm not the only old person who is bothered by the noise and can't wait to get rid of the other kids. They're really little shits.

We got to school and I tried to print my presentation. It turns out that the computer messed up my formatting and then wouldn't let me fix it properly. I rushed to try to fix it, but it was never the same again. I'm so glad that I never have to deal with that printing situation again. Yesterday was a lot of lasts for me. I finally printed my presentation and went upstairs. My professor was already upstairs with Shanni (who had given her the flowers already) and was setting the table for our Christmas breakfast. She had brought all sorts of pastries (including an orange flavored cake that had a small plastic baby inside. whoever got the baby would have to wear a crown as their reward. Irene got it). She also brought orange juice, coffee, hot cocoa, a baguette, and nectarines. We always start class late so it was 8:50 before we even passed around the evaluations for people who had yet to do them. We got started with the presentations after 9:15 and had nothing but problems. We couldn't figure out how to log into anyone's email using the professor's computer, we had sound problems, you name it and we had a problem with it yesterday. I was number 15 (dead last) because I was signing our professor's card when people were signing up for spots. 

The time kept getting closer and closer to eleven and I knew that I wasn't going to do my presentation. We had a bit of good luck at the end and were able to get through everyone but Tatiana and me. Our professor asked if we could stay after class and give our presentations, and of course I agreed. At the end of class we packed everything up and everyone started leaving their books in a pile. I thought that I could keep my French book, but it turns out that I had to trade my book in and that they would give me and old edition in return. I said that I'd bring my book in later when I came in for my pop final. My professor, Tatiana, and I went upstairs to the teacher's lounge (which is super nice, by the way) and did our presentations. I hugged my professor goodbye and she asked if I was going to continue studying French. I told her that I couldn't take a class but would be taking a book home to continue to study on my own. She said to send her an email and that she would try to send me the listenings and online exercises for the book. I was sad to leave her. She's amazing. 

I was going to take pictures of the school and everything but I totally forgot in my haze to go home. I was also going to stop by the post office to get stamps, but I was out of coins; I had made change for Kenia during French class so that she could pay our professor 1,50. I managed to take a picture of my favorite street art that was on my walk home. I also took some pictures of the outside of the building, but when I tried to take a picture of the inside my camera wouldn't turn back on. I thought it was broken! I took some pictures on my phone and went upstairs. I wanted to get a lot of packing done before my final. I also had to talk to Patrick about taking my bags over to him. I took some things downstairs to the curb that I didn't think that I could give away for donation; flip flops, my clothes baskets, seasonings. I packed and ate mashed potatoes and managed to make plans with Patrick. I was supposed to meet him on the line 14 platform at pyramides at 4:30. My head was killing me, and I was not feeling calm at all. I took some advil and went to my final doom. 

When I went downstairs the things I had left on the curb were already gone. I smiled for some odd reason. I walked to school and then took pictures of the school before going inside to wait for my final to start. We were all downstairs at 1:30 wondering where Mindy was. It turns out that they moved where our final was to Chanel instead of our normal room. Only god knows why. We went upstairs late and Mindy passed out the final. I can't even speak. The final was so terrible. I'm just praying to the sweet lord that I got an 80%. It went that badly. I was one of four students who were writing until Mindy called one minute. Victor kept writing until after the one minute warning. He does care after all. He just prefers to judge me for my caring. I turned in my final and Mindy handed me my final paper. 95%. 95 goddamn percent! I guess that's better than a 90, but I just couldn't even do it anymore. I was so mad and uggggggggh!!!! When Mindy said goodbye I didn't even say anything. I just left. 

I went to the UC center to turn in my books. Shelby was there and said that she couldn't find the fifth edition that she was supposed to trade me for. She finally found a copy and we said goodbye. I told her thank you for putting up with me, and she responded "thank you for choosing our program" with a weird fake smile on her face. Really, Shelby? "thank you for choosing our program" like a robot? She strange. On the way out Mindy was coming in. She asked when I was leaving and I told her about my travel plans. It was weird and totally fake. I'm glad that I'll never see her again. 

Callie was downstairs when I got into the courtyard and we walked home together. I stopped and took a few pictures before going back home. It was like the circle of life; Callie was the first person I met and the last person I talked to. Life is so strange sometimes. I went upstairs and checked for the last few things that I needed to pack before going to meet Patrick. I confirmed when and where I was meeting him, grabbed my huge amount of luggage, and went to the metro. I carried my bags downstairs at the same time like a pro. I then got to the gate and saw one open. I tried to walk through it because I thought that the gate would close on one of my bags before I could get both of them and myself through the gate. The gate closed on my big bag. Good thing a woman came behind me and I motioned to her to swipe a ticket for me as I handed one from my pocket to her. She shook her head and motioned that she's swipe her ticket and go through the gate with me. I thanked her and got to the 14 platform. The metro actually wasn't busy at all and I had no problems getting to pyramides. 

I checked my phone and saw that it was only 4:07. I sat down to wait for Patrick. I finally saw his reflection walking towards me and waited for him to get to me to get up. I kissed him on both cheeks like the Frenchwoman I am and he remarked that he thought that I said that I wouldn't kiss him. Those aren't kisses, that's cheek touching with kissing noises! We wound through the station (with him carrying my big bag up the myriad of stairs as I took the escalator) and got onto the seven. Being with him was really awkward. I just wanted to get it over with. After the seven we had to take a special train. While on the train we talked partially in English and partially and French and got along fine. It turns out that he lives in zone five. Zone freaking five!!!!! We got off the train and walked through his town to his house. It was an adorable French suburb that Patrick says that he hates living in but that I loved. Everything was decorated for Christmas and it was adorable. We finally arrived at a run down house and I prayed that wasn't his; of course it was. He put my bags in the garage and I told him that I could walk to the train station myself. It turns out that you have to drive to the RER because you can't take the train we came on back to Paris. We had some language difficulties because I didn't understand why he wanted to drive. We finally figured it out and he drove me the 20 minutes to the station. He said that he would have swiped for me but there were three adorable policemen standing there. I paid for a ticket to Paris (4,90!) and left. À lundi. 

I took the RER A back to Gare de Lyon. I already told you about my little moment of realization in my short post last night.We can just skip all of that business. My stomach was really rumbling at this point. I thought that I would get McDo for dinner, but I then decided to stop and get a kebab at the restaurant near the train station (you remember them from my sit down meal a thousand months ago; holy shit I was in Paris for forever). I ordered a chicken sandwich to go. It was already six euros (fifty cents pricier than I'm used to) so I figured it was a treat. When my food was ready I asked for cheese. The cashier told me that it was fifty cents more for cheese! I'm pretty sure that they just fleeced me because I don't speak French, but I really like the cheap single cheese that's vaguely like American cheese. It was worth the fifty cents. 

I got home and got in the elevator just for Hanna to get in too. I complimented her bottle of wine and then told her that I had a huge beer that I still hadn't drunk and asked her if she wanted it. She actually laughed and smiled while I was talking to her. It was so…normal. She seems like a nice girl; when I'm not trying to sleep. I got to my apartment and tried to open my beer to go with my dinner. It turns out that there's no bottle opener in my apartment. I finally just gave up and cracked open my last orangina for dinner. I watched parenthood on netflix while eating dinner. Holy shit it was delicious. The chicken was perfectly charred and the cheese was delicious. Sadly my fries were limp and I didn't get ketchup on them. It was still amazing. 

Next up was putting all of my stuff into my bag and cleaning the apartment. I wiped everything down as best as I could and then tried to sweep the floor. It wasn't perfect, but it was clean enough to pass inspection. It's going to be professionally cleaned on Saturday so I'm not too worried…hopefully. I took a shower and made sure that everything was in place. I then went out to get some more money and something for breakfast. I took out my plants and a bag of things for the curb; they were still there this morning. I went to the ATM and got out 40 euros. I then went to Franprix and picked out some waffles. I got to the register and couldn't find one euro. The woman saw me digging and said that I definitely had enough money. She picked the coins out of my hand for me. I was slightly embarrassed, but less so when I loudly exclaimed "voilà" and the woman behind me in line laughed. It was already a rough night. I shoved the waffles in my bag and tried to find my keys in my bag. I had been holding them in my hand when I went downstairs and I could swear that I shoved them in my purse when I got out my debit card. They were nowhere to be found! Of course I would lose my keys the night before I move out. I finally found them in my outside pocket. 

I went upstairs and started to look up things for my flight and my trip to Barcelona. I looked up how to get to Orly and how to get from the airport to my hotel. I then looked at my flight information and thought that I should read the fine print. It said to print out my boarding pass before I got to the airport!! What?!!!!!!! I followed the instructions to check myself in and then generated my boarding pass, but I couldn't print it. I messaged Matthew to tell mom that it was an emergency. I frantically put on shoes with no socks (I still wasn't wearing a bra) and went to ask the security guard if he knew where I could print. He said no. I got in the elevator and went upstairs to ask Kate as a last resort. She opened the door after I had almost gotten on the elevator. I told her that I was sorry to bother her and that I needed to print my boarding pass. She told me to go to the internet cafe and print. She tried to tell me the street but I don't know any of the street names. She said that it was near Gare de Lyon and I left in a hurry. I saw an email from mom telling me to get at least 200 euros for my trip. I grabbed my purse and ran out the door. I knew that there was a printing place near my apartment but I always see it when it's closed. I ran over and it was open! I went inside and asked the man behind the counter if he spoke English and could help me. The man he was helping told me that I'm in France and should speak French. Fuck off; this is an emergency. I opened my email and printed the document. I accidentally logged off of my session before I logged off my email. I had the man reopen my session and then I logged off. He told me it was 95 cents. I only had a five. I apologized profusely and left. 

I stopped at the ATM and got 90 euros (the machine skips from 60 to 90 euros; no 80 euro option that is preset). I then went home and saw Kate as I was getting on the elevator and we chatted like everything was fine. I hugged her as I got off the elevator and told her goodbye. I then went inside my apartment and responded to mom's email. I told her that everything was fine. I then looked up some more things for Barcelona and googled the directions for how to get to the Picasso Museum in Barcelona. It was already 9:30 and I was getting up at four to make sure that I got to the airport in time. I quickly wrote to you and then went to sleep. We'll talk about the rest of my two day blur later tonight. I already have a lot to tell you.