Got up early and met Ginette to go to the EU offices today on their open house day. Little did we know that the trams and busses were free today, but of course we bought our tickets BEFORE it all worked, so we were pissed. Oh well! We got there and went through security and saw tons of cool stuff! The opening is so open and I can totally imagine myself walking in and out of an office like that on a daily basis! The gift shop was much too expensive, so I avoided that, but we went upstairs and looked at some cool things, an then found the jackpot. The Council of Europe’s Room, just like the UN but not the Parliament! So we took pictures of us sitting in the desks and noticed how amazing it was.
We went upstairs and found the Council of Members room, so we went in there and took pictures of ourselves at our countrie’s desks which was amazing. Too bad that the building isn’t used more often, and only 4 times a year! Seems like such a waste for such a beautiful building. I tried to educate her about flags and country names as we took a rest (her feet hurt – duh), and then we saw those British people again! We didn’t want to move so we just waved and they ignored us, and then we saw Mathieu who was complaining that he got ditched, but then he left, and we walked around and it started to poar rain. We wanted to go to ‘Palais des Droits des Hommes’ but it was raining so we dashed for the bus stop and waited for an hour for the bus, after not getting on a couple (stupid me). Oh well, we got out and came back to residence again in the rain and decided to relax for the afternoon.
We found Charlotte who moved in, while on our quest to get food. My quiche I bought a few days ago wasn’t very good and I ate the crust; we couldn’t figure out how to work the ‘microwave thing’ or the stove with didn’t turn on! So after filling Charlotte in on some things, we parted ways and I am trying to get my ‘carte de séjour’ papers together in preperation for tomorrow. Our placement test is at 08.30 so we are metting at 07.50 to walk over, and after that (if it’s not done all at the same time) we do our carte de séjour. I want to set up my bank at BMP Paribas before the end of the week with Dr. Lee, as I don’t want to get sketched out by people pressuring me in French. Don’t know what I will do tonight, but I might sleep early, and I hope that I get a visit from someone (not likely).
On a side note. French people are weird. They look really nice from afar and look like they have no imperfections, but then when you get close to them they have bags under their eyes too and they are just like everyone else, just a lot more trendy. This makes me feel a lot better about myself, however I do need some new pants as the ones I have are too big, and I seemed to have lost weight (and will continue to do so). Also a girl next to me finally moved in, and she’s with another friend all the time. I think she’s Turkish, but all I know is that she smells really bad and a smell emenates from her room. Am I judging? Partly, but I won’t judge her character until I meet her, if at all.
French people are NOT weird. They are different compared to what you are used to. (Unless eating frogs is weird.)
I guess all people are weird to another culture. A French is weird to a Swedish, but it’s weird to a Hungarian as well. A Hungarian is weird to a Swedish, and true for the other way around. We can’t do anything with that. Still have to like each other. 🙂