Unorganized books: In and out of Paris

Unfortunately each detail, even major ones, such as my trip to Scotland are going to have to be skipped over a bit. I do want to keep updating, so I am going to jump into certain new experiences, events, emotions etc. If a backdrop is necessary I will try to provide one. My second half of my Paris sejour is in action and I am finally starting to acclimate. On the most noticeable level, my French skills continue to improve to the point where I feel wonderfully comfortable and excited to converse with others. Whereas before I attempted to avoid situations in which I was called upon to speak French, now I seek them out. Some of my favorite experiences have been due to this newly acquired French-seeker personality trait. For example, as a late birthday present my 30-year old man friend invited me to a wine tasting where I took in 3 hours worth of wine history, geography and of course taste. It ended up being much larger than I had imagined. Before I arrived, I pictured a wine cave with about 4 types of wine to try. Instead, we entered 3 auditoriums full of wine booths. For experiences here, information comes in clumps that can be both exciting and quite overwhelming. This was no exception. French language+wine terms+managing not to give too many flirtation signals to 30 yr old+3 hours of time. Outside of crazy wine tasting French-learning experiences, I have been spending time getting to know my French friends. It’s a blast to go in and out of English and French with ease when speaking with my bilingual frenchies. I have also learned some valuable grammatical lessons outside the classroom, such as using “nous” is incredibly formal and more of a written French than spoken, most frenchies use “on” when expressing “we.” French friends, wine tastings, picnics in the park and springtime are casting a new light on this city and I am feeling quite situated. This week after a ton of traveling debacles due to the Icelandic volcano, I am in fact off to Rome via train. Hopefully “Fille a Paris” will slide smoothly into “Fille a Rome.”