Oh man, I really love it here. Thus far (I say hesitatingly...).

But anyway, it's rare enough that I love living somewhere, or I find a place so home-like so quickly...

I've already been invited to a wedding in Slovakia and a banquet plus a fair in Sweden. Pretty nice stuff. And my work will be paying for my trip to Paris to report on a story. Things are going well...

The weather here is beautiful, about 30 celsius, or 86 F...
Beer is very cheap, $1.50 for a pint during happy hour, and maybe $2.50 normally...
I'm working now, and I go to happy hour, that in and of itself is quite weird.

There are a lot of very interesting nice people here. It's weird to have a good social life. I like how people are so accepting and willing to invite you wherever and whenever. There are seemingly no real cliques here because a lot of people are here so temporarily. Of course, you still have the "Euro chic" group...but otherwise, the normal people are so cool. I found a nice gym near my place and I'm slowly learning my way around the city...it's really great.

I will hopefully post pictures here as soon as I get the stuff working. I'm having a bit of trouble getting the laptop to recognize my camera.

It's somewhat exhausting going out all the time, during those quiet times I watch the DVDs of Superman the head boss at work leant me (the old seasons), and I'm studying Spanish...slowly picking up more and more. But boy does it mess with my French! (And I thought it'd be an advantage harumph!)

Every time I walk around this city I seem to bump into something cool going on. Last weekend it was a Cuban music group playing an awesome concert in the park with booths for food and everyone out lounging on the grass...in the end, I realized why I liked them so much, I have a bunch of their music on my computer.

Then this week, I walked out of my house to go to the supermarket and walked right into this huge flee market/Sundayish market thing, spanning blocks and blocks, all less than 100 meters from my door. Apparently this only happens once a year for the entire weekend. Lucky me. Tons of food, cheap fruits and vegetables, clothes, games, bicycles, electronics, anything your heart could desire...Tomorrow I'm taking my camera with me.

Tonight I am invited to a shindig at a coworker's place. Basically her pub quiz team has won too many bottles of champagne and decided to get more alcohol, make food and invite people over to party. Not a bad reason if I say so myself. I'm only a little worried about what I should wear, if I should bring anything...and I will make sure to eat well before. I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of all my superiors--after all, I'm the measly intern. =)

In any case, as I said above, it's weird to have a social life of sorts...I mean, last night for example, I got out of work and joined the hordes of people at Place du Luxembourg...oh man, hordes all after work. I had my happy hour beer--two for 2.50 euros--then we went over to get food at this place nearby and to watch the World Cup game. (Unfortunately, Poland v. Ecuador, not the first one). Anyway, while eating I heard from some of my other friends that I've just met that there's an Italian concert going on, but alas it was too late. I stayed where I was, watched a bit more of the game, and then went to the park to hang out with some other cool people...It was a huge difference from the noise and craziness of the place we'd just been. The park was the "royal park" there...and absolutely beautiful...the weather was warm with a nice cool breeze, and we just sat and talked for a while.

It's strange how it stays light outside here until nearly 11 p.m...which would be similar to around maybe 8:30 p.m. in the summer in California. That really throws my sleep schedule off, but then again, I have plenty of daylight hours after I get out of work. The days just zoom by here...by the time I'm out of work, fed, and out having a good time, it's really time to get to bed so that I can start the next day off bright and early. Thank G-d it's a weekend! Next time I hope to post pictures...