Are we out of the ghetto yet??

Sooooo, I thought that I should update y'all on the friends we've made here, since so many of you know how few people I actually get along with.....

We've been really lucky in finding people. First was Matt, an Aussie boy who packed his things and moved to London to work for a year. We met him in the laundry room in London, commiserating over the lack of functioning machines. Sadly, he had to check out, cos he found a house to stay in. He was good fun, and the first Aussie we properly met.

Then there's Jacques (although we didn't know that was his name for three days) We met him in the laundry too, after 'someone' - certainly not Matt - started Jacques' laundry cycle for the second time after concluding that the clothes sitting in the machine belonged to some asshole who was too lazy to pick up his washing. So the two boys had to sit with us for about an hour while we waited for everything to finish up, and we all had a lovely chat. Jacques was funny, had a pacman and space invaders t-shirt, and liked pirates and Scrubs. Needless to say, he became our Scrubs buddy, and our first official (and my favourite) overseas friend.

In Paris, we have been soooo lucky. Our roommates, Judy and Beth (a Canuck and American, respecitvely), are completely awesome - just as nerdy as we are and proud of it.

Judy is 30, and lived in Paris a few years ago, so she knows all about the city, and has been taking the three of us on these hilarious walking tours through Montmarte and surrounding suburbs - red light districts 'n all. Beth is 22 and from South Carolina, is very sweet, and says y'all. She's going to Barcelona to possibly teach, but mostly to meet her boyfriend (when we were walking out of the less-nice part of Montmarte, Beth asked if we were "out of the ghetto yet?"...hence the title).

Last night the four of us went to dinner near Sacre Couer at a really nice little tavern; it was Kim and my first 'real' meal since New York, and I have never craved steak as much as I did last night. My French steak was really nice (I even ordered it in French), and I had green beans to boot (I ate all them without complaining, mum), so it was possibly also the healthiest meal Kim and I have had since New York. After our fantastic dinner we carried on with our very loud talking for a while, then headed off into Montmarte for a walk (have to work off that chocolate mousse, and in the others' cases, pastries and nutella). Judy took us into Pigalle, to see the Moulin Rouge and some other dirty stuff.....then we hit the Sex Museum.

Best 6 euro ever. It was freakin hilarious. Apparently there is nothing to bond four women together like 1920s porn. We spent a while hanging around in there, taking it all in (pun intended), and laughing about sex, which is, let's face it, pretty funny. We walked back to the hostel via a bakery, where we all got some more treats (we'd walked a long way....leave us alone), and then headed off to bed.

Today we went for more walks. First was to see the Monets at the Musee l'Orangerie, which were seriously beautiful. After that we went to the Gallery Lafayette where we looked at ridiculously priced handbags and wished for wealthy Frenchmen to sweep us off our feet. We then went to train station to reserve our seats for our Madrid train, where we found out that it was going to cost us an extra 67 euro just to reserve our seats. Kim and I were pissed - stupid STA had told us it would be a few euro extra - and I think we've decided to get a refund on our waste-of-time-and-money eurail passes, and fly everywhere. We did the maths, and it just seems that the eurail pass is a piece of shit designed to rip us off. Although, we are still pretty mad, so we're probably not thinking very fairly. Oh well. A 14 euro flight is a 14 euro flight.

Lastly we went shopping, where I found a 90 euro top that I love!!! But I'm still contemplating buying it....it seems wasteful. But awesome and a size 2. And it's French. Totally worth it. Judy and Beth both bought a few things, and now Kim and I are on the prowl for something outrageous for Kim to buy for herself.

In conclusion, Judy and Beth are the fantastic, funny and awesome roommates. Our hostel is great and I LOVE LOVE LOVE Paris. I can't wait to come back (preferably with a man, in lovey-revolting-cliche), and explore more of France. Paris is beautiful, and I can definitely see why Kim loves it so much. Lots of photos; I haven't figured out how to post any of them yet, but as soon as I do, you'll be the first to see 'em.

I miss you all thhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssssssss much, especially my bed..........oh, and my family and friends. You guys too.

Email me if you want! I love getting emails. It makes me feel special. You do want me to feel special don't you?

Lots of love,

Lis