It's time to get a move on...

   After a few days of sightseeing alone I decided that some actual human contact would probably do me some good. And so I messaged my friend, Lauren, from orientation. We sat next to each other on the plane over here and she lives in the suburbs of Paris. Since she has school, we planned to meet in Paris on Sunday before an AFS get together for the whole region.
   I woke up late on Sunday and hurried to take a shower and get ready in time. I was in such a rush that I didn’t eat breakfast or blow-dry my hair or express a great amount of enthusiasm for the snow that had fallen in the night. When I got to the train station I was hungry, my hair was frozen and my train was late!
   I met Lauren at Tuileries and we walked around for a while, using the time it took to pick from the hundreds of cafés, to catch up.

   I will be a tourist for as long as I eat in this type of café with multilingual menus and where the only French people are the waiters.
Afterwards, we decided to be fancy and went to Angelina, an expensive restaurant, famous for their hot chocolate.

 "It's like drinking a bar of chocolate".

   The AFS get together that was supposed to take place outside that afternoon was cancelled because of the cold. 
After eating we were in the mood to shop but quickly found that the ample collection of shops that make Paris the city for shopping shuts down completely on Sundays. And so with any hope for an afternoon of shopping gone, and with chattering teeth, we separated at the train station and I headed home, still on cloud nine from that hot chocolate.
   It had been a good idea to spend a day with her and I enjoyed catching up and sharing stories, but what struck me most is how settled down she is in her life here. It reminded me of how I used to be back in Tournon with a group of friends, a schedule, and plans for the weeks to come. In the end, it made me even more eager to start over already and have that all again.