conseil de l europe

IKEA this morning was great, in and out in about one hour, and this time I got photos. I got some rugs, and some pots and pans that were pretty cheap, and some other spatulas and such that I would need on a regular basis, and all under 20€ so I was happy. Regardless of all this, we were in line to buy our stuff at IKEA, and Ginette and I noticed this ‘person’ go infront of us. We were a bit shocked, and the first impression I had was that she was gonna get all complainy, but instead I was like; it’s not worth your time, let them pass us, maybe they didn’t see us despite the fact we are right there.

So we stand there and looking at the person who cut infront of us, and we start to wonder if it’s a guy or a girl. Now at first it was more of a joke, but it turned out that it was a more serious thing becasue we really couldn’t tell. It was either a guy with really big hips and was really short with small feet, or a woman with a really bad hair cut. It’s features were really vague too so it was really hard to tell, and we felt kind of weird wondering but never-the-less we walked back to the tram stop after the shuttle bus, and we were still wondering. It was a weird day, because while on the tram we saw three or four others that were questionable in terms of gender. It could be the fact that French people are very meterosexual, and guys are very feminine (especially with their man purses), but it was very confusing regardless. At Homme de Fer, we even saw a guy, wearing a womans purse that was pink, and had pink loafers on, which really threw us for a whirl!!

France is the single weirdest place in the world, however I went to H&M and I found a pea-coat, but I don’t think I like it very much since it’s only in large, so I will start to look around for something else just in case! Despite that, I’m deciding if I’m going to disco night or not; I just don’t want to get any more sick than I am already, so it’s all pretty questionable right now. I might just stay in and watch some TV episodes that I download, or ask Mattieu to hang out, since I feel like being mellow and not doing something really high energy.

By the way, I’m still not impressed about that ‘person’ budding me in the line. It’s really rude and I’m not used to such open-rudeness with people. Canadians are so much more polite and not so horrible. Also I am posting a picture onto one of my older enteries about when I went to the European Parliament, but I will also put it here. I sat in the chair of the Swedish representitive!! Heja Sverige för alltid!

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.

Baguette this morning with Ginette was good idea, we just need to find more competition and such. Also we sat around for some hours just talking and figuring out if we wanted to go to Kehl or not. We decided to go to ‘Place des Halles’ instead, which is the shopping mall (and quite small too). Amber was hungry as always, and we walked around looking for things to buy but everything was so expensive. Then Amber gets a phone call from Amimin (sp?) the taxi driver, and he says that he wants to meet her at the mall and doesn’t mind taking us around to show us the city. I was sketched out by this but everyone else seemed lazy and tired of walking (lazy asses) so I stayed with them during the day where it was some sort of a festival and thousands of people were around the streets. So he showed up and he was exactly as I imagined, a 25 year old Moroccan man, who was overweight and smokes excessively.

Against my better judgement, I decided to allow him to drive us to Kehl, and after going through the East side of town and showing us that he knows just about everyone, we arrived in Germany and walked around. Amber and him flirted a lot (for God only knows what reason) and he kept touching her inappropriately but she didn’t mind to care. We went into some shops, and Ginette coudln’t help but notice that German people weren’t as good looking as French people, how sad. After I explained to her that they are from a different ethnicity, everything seemed to make sense and we just giggled and made fun of Amber and the cabbie the whole day. The always hungry students found an Italian Ice Creame resteraunt where we were for like hours, and talking and joking about random stuff. The taxi driver seemed to ignore us, except when we talked about swear words, and he likes to say ‘J’arrive’ a lot, and it started to bug me.

Admist all of this excitement, Amber seemed to allow herself to get caught in a trap to go Aminem’s cousin’s wedding with him, and we laughed and joked about that. We found things that were so much cheaper in Germany, like sandals and health products; and made a mental note to come back here very soon on the bus. On our way back after leaving at about 18.00 the cabbie took us to a pack with a mini zoo and a bunch of African weddings, which was nice. We took some pictures and then got excited when we went to the ‘Conseil d’Europe’ and ‘Palais des Droits des Hommes’ which are all EU buildings. I took a bunch of pictures with Ginette and we found out they had an open house on Sunday, so we vowed to come back.

We got dropped back at the house, and wasted away the evening until Amber called and asked if we wanted to go out to a bar or something. Against my better judgement (again) I decided to go and rescue her from the creepy guy, and dressed up a bit to go to a really dingy little bar where people smell bad and the drinks are expensive. I had some pinapple drink while talking with them and the cabbie ignored all of us as his other friends seemed to be there. This German group infront of us kept staring at me, for some reason or another, and the French guy behind us was doing the same, I really wanted to scream when he hit me accidentally with his arm as he was putting his coat on, but I just shook my head and ignored it all. All in all, he ditched us and we left after paying for his drink and such, and then we walked Amber home because she was afraid to be raped or something (some guy followed her home the night before). All in all a weird day, and Ginette and I decided that we were done using the taxi driver to drive us around, since we thought he was creepy. Oh well, it would have all costed 300€ in the end, so everybody wins; we got to go to Kehl afterall, and Amber has a creepy friend, and some of the taxi drivers sexual tension was released by his touching of her arm (creepy).

Watch out European Union; you’re coming tomorrow!