#1. the group chooses one player to stand out in front of the larger group (closer to the Seine) while the large group sings some sort of song at them.
#2. the player responds to the song with "Non! Non! Non! Non! Non!" and the group responds similarly with "Si!" (which means yes when used as a response to a statement with a negation in it...I know, what?)
#3. Everyone is drunk and keeps yelling at the player, who is usually laughing and simultaneously being subjected to all sorts of sexual advances from their friends. The player begins to take off his/her clothes until s/he doesn't want to anymore. Then proceeds to moon whatever tourist night boat is passing on the Seine.
#4. Everyone screams and claps and the player puts his/her clothes back on.
#5. They pick someone else.
Presumably, this goes on until there is a "winner" or the person who took off the most clothes. In this way, Boyce and I not only got drunk by the Seine but we also got a floor show wherein we saw many people's butts and two boys completely naked. Lucky us. After the novelty wore off, we went to pick up more wine and some chocolate! And scoped another nice river spot. At this point, I was really resigned to having to make another long trek home late at night, but somehow (and I will never understand how), after saying adieu to Boyce (have fun in Tours!) I found my way not only to the proper metro station to get me as close as possible to my home, but in fact onto the RER A a mere one stop before my home stop at 12 on a Thursday! This doesn't make since to me considering my previous adventures with late-night travel (see "The Unbearable Unreliableness of the Paris Metro") but I wasn't complaining. Got home and smoked a cigarette with my brothers and talked about jets exploding and then went to bed.
Vendredi: My plans for yesterday were #1 to sleep in, #2 go to class, #3 get a bit of vin, #4 go to the Louvre, #5 go home. The first 4 went as expected, but at the Louvre with Sally and Abby we ran into people we knew from our program (Madison and Melanie)! Odds notwithstanding, we decided to go out and grab some food (well, they did, I was not willing to eat out again this week) and subsequently found a cute cute Japanese place where they served us little kirs before our meal and sake after. The girls had sushi and we all had 66cl Tsing-Taos (which are big, for those of you not familiar with metric) and generally a good time. Madison and Melanie were telling us about this crazy bar they found near Bastille the previous weekend and so we all hopped on the metro and made the very easy trip to Charlotte Bar.
The bar was small and crowded and played tons of American rap and rap/pop, which, truth be told, I have been missing amidst all the techno here in Paris. The bartenders were gorgeous and remembered M&M and made room for us ladies at the bar. After a few drinks, we were quite a hit with the bar patrons and employees, the bar photographer taking our pictures left and right and the Belgian boys to my left introducing themselves to all of us. They were very cute and spoke good English and were impressed by all of us studying in Paris. Sally began to dance in the tiny amount of space between the bar and the railing leading downstairs and one of the Belgian boys, Mathias, who I had been talking to for about an hour, hopped off of his stool and ran to dance with her. We were all very surprised to find out that he was a dwarf! I guess that's the politically correct thing to say. I really wished that a certain Ashley Moore could have been there for this little event...literally. You would have loved it!! But it was very funny and his friends started making jokes about him being so short but that the ladies loved him, etc. etc. Very very funny.
I didn't have much money so I was hesitant to get anything else to drink, but after being at the bar for over an hour, I was feeling the need for a whiskey, and so I sucked it up and ordered one with Coke. It was good. Expensive, but that is Paris. Then the Belgian boys asked why I wasn't drinking and I said it was because I am poor and Paris is trop cher pour moi. Then they bought me a drink. Wonderful boys.
Not being a big bar-goer nor a big meeting-people-at-bars enthusiast, I was a little out of my element in this packed-to-the-seams place. But it reminded me of when I was 17 and would go out with Water Street friends and Hilary & Donta, and none of those were bad things. So I loosened up a bit and began to make a bit of a fool of myself. Especially once the (gorgeous!!!) DJ/bartender put on "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)" by Beyonce ONLY MY FAVORITE SONG AND THE BEST VIDEO OF ALL TIME (thx, Kanye!). Plus I know every single word. And I appreciate the sentiment of the track. So, all-in-all, I screamed and proceeded to sing every word. THEN they played "I'm So Paid" by Akon with Jeezy and Weezy, another song to which I know every word. Oh man oh man. Thank you, Charlotte Bar.
So, 2am rolled around and we had to leave the best-looking bartenders in town. Everyone was pretty tipsy/drunk at that point so off we went to our respective metros/buses/cabs. I jumped on a bus I saw that said "Montreuil" on it, thinking that, duh, it'll take me to Montreuil. That's what you would think. No. Instead, the bus went to the complete opposite side of the city from where Montreuil is. So, I got on at 2am, rode the bus for about 2 hours with my headphones on, then got off where I vaguely thought I lived, since my house is actually in between Montreuil and Vincennes, which is a bit to the south. And, considering my aforementioned Plan For Vendredi, I did not bring my map with me for the first time ever. SO 4am, somewhere kind of near my house. So I walked. After 5 blocks I was getting really nervous that I was lost forever, then what do you know? MY STREET! Rue de Sergent Godefroy. I was thrilled.
Came in the front door to find Mathieu and Julien playing video games with Anais asleep on the couch and with another of Julien's friends. They asked what time it was and I said 4am and that I had ridden the bus in the wrong direction for 2 hours. They laughed at me and I went to bed, completely exhausted. Today I am still tired, though more chipper. And I went grocery shopping at the Ed. I love it. Sipping my Jus d'Orange and made a tomato sandwich.
Something I'm definitely getting better at is not freaking out about things that are outside of my realm of control, such as the bus sitch. I had no idea where I was and I didn't have a choice about what to do, so I just chilled and didn't get enraged like I probably would have at home. Sweet.
Now to relax more. My muscles hurt from so much walking.
A bientot!
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