The First Quarter

As of yesterday, I have now been living in Paris for three whole months, which is just crazy, especially because of the fact that I started university exactly two years ago today. It's insane how fast time goes!

A view out of the Musée d'Orsay

Pont Alexandre III - The evening we ended up on a Victoria's Secret videoshoot

I've had another good week here in Paris, work has been slightly stressful in that summer is now over so people are gradually getting back into the swing of things. I had a coffee with my boss on Friday morning which was fab and made me feel a lot better about work in general. As much as I love my job, as the work flows in it is starting to feel more and more like A Real Job and considering the fact I've been a student forever it is a big change.

The weekend started with a night out in Chatelet, and true to form, it was awful and amazing at the same time. Chatelet is an area in the 1st which comes alive at night time, full of bars and clubs and the kind of music I crave, but with a clientele I'd rather avoid. After jumping on the Noctilien night bus we headed home ready for a weekend of culture.

Jacob from uni was over and being his typical deep and meaningful English student self he dragged me to the Pompidou Centre on Saturday afternoon. I'm gonna stick my hands up here and just put it out there that I did not enjoy the Pompidou Centre. I'm partial to a bit of modern art once in a while (anyone remember those slides in the Tate Modern circa 2006?) but this place is ridiculous. Unfortunately the earlier artwork floor was closed and whilst I did appreciate some of the art we saw, I am just not about staring at a blank canvas trying to work out what it really means.

Deep. Real deep.

A selection of artwork deemed suitable for the blog. I tried, I really did.

Sunday we headed off to the Musée d'Orsay which was much more impressive. Turns out I do like art, it just has to be old and instantly recognisable and painted by Van Gogh/Monet/Degas etc. I did really enjoy the Musée d'Orsay, yet this is probably due to their collection on Impressionism, a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists (according to our good pal Wikipedia) and you know what I'm like with anything Paris related.

Unfortunately I couldn't take any photos but if you're unfamiliar with the works of Van Gogh and Monet etc then you were probably absent on the day in art class in primary school when everyone sat around painting fruit bowls and flower pots.

We then ambled along the Seine and on to Le Marais, to meet up with Matt, Lucy and Hellen, which is now one of my favourite spots in Paris, as unlike the rest of the city, life does go on despite it being a Sunday.

Old copies of ELLE France being sold on the Seine. Almost as many copies as I have under my bed.

After a falafel from L'As (don't go anywhere else, these are THE best ones in Le Marais and I've tried a few now) we stayed chatting in Place des Vosges, went for a verre de vin in one of the little cafes on the main street and then somehow found ourselves in the middle of mass in Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis on rue Saint-Antoine, where the priest did a shout out to "our foreign friends here tonight", represent.

So far this week has started well, I had a lovely stroll along the Seine on Monday evening and had Matt cook for me on Tuesday, now I'm just waiting for the weekend!

A la prochain!

Sophie