Smokin'

Today I didn't really do any of the things I said I was going to do, but that's ok haha. I got up, couldn't find Modern Family online, shortly debated whether or not I should go running, decided upon "go running later," proceeded to get a phone call that our group was going to the Louvre, so I went, too. Instead of running I had a delicious crepe for lunch followed by a trip through one of the other wings that I didn't see before. I have to say, while the company is fun, it's definitely better to go by yourself. One guy kind of just took over and led the way, so everyone just followed him. We went to the Mona Lisa first.... We walked straight past so much other cool art. Even da Vinci's Madonna of the Rocks is SOOO much better! And Mantegna's painting of St. Sebastian, which we learned about in Art History in high school. I think this was the wing for me, because this was all the stuff we learned about in Humanities, AP Art History, and AP Euro. It's so cool when you can see what you learned about in person. We then walked through the Neoclassical section, and I saw Jacques-Louis David's Oath of the Horatii and the Coronation of Napoléon I (I think...still working on translating the French descriptions of all the art). David is one of my favorites. I saw The Death of Marat at the Phoenix Art Museum, which was sooo cool. I just love the story behind that one: guy with skin condition spends most of his time in the tub to stop the itching, murdered while in the tub by Charlotte Corday during the French Revolution (as previously mentioned, Corday was guillotined in Place de la Concorde). After that, we went through Romanticism (again, really quickly) and we saw a bunch of Delacroix's works like La Liberté which I'm sure you all have seen. Then we went down to another wing, and saw Ancient Egyptian art. A lot of hieroglyphics and sarcophagi. The colossal sculpture of Rameses II was not very colossal haha. I'm definitely going back to the Neoclassical/Romanticism wing next time. At my own pace. Walking around in there is so exhausting, it's ridiculous. We left and walked down rue di Rivoli for awhile and found a little café and got coffee. Then we took the Métro back towards Cité (dorms) and stopped at a grocery store so people could get food. It's not the one close to me, so I didn't get anything. But at least my goal of grocery shopping was partly achieved haha. I did get stuck in the candy aisle for quite a while. They have so much chocolate. I die. Also, I've realized that the checkout line takes insanely long. It's like no one has any sense of urgency. It's terrible. We finally got out of there and headed back to Cité because with your student ID you can get a meal for 3 euro. Except I don't have my ID yet so I didn't eat there. I came home and finally got to do laundry, which was good because I have like one pair of underwear left (sorry if that's an overshare...deal with it haha) and no more clothes. I ate dinner in my room and then watched Taken. At first I thought maybe I shouldn't be watching that, especially since they're in Paris which I didn't realize. But then I saw how freaking stupid the girls were and I don't think I have to worry. Like, really? Share a cab, tell him exactly what apartment you're in, let him watch you punch in the code? It was a good movie though. Really intense. However, this might sound really bad, but I don't think the girl was traumatized enough. Like right after her dad got there she was totally fine. She was laughing when she got off the plane. And definitely was not grateful enough, and neither was her mom and stepdad. In my opinion, anyway. Agathe had a bunch of friends over tonight, and they came in and introduced themselves and said to come hang out with them after the movie was over. I went in, and instantly realized my mistake when I saw they were all smoking. I really don't get it. Do they not understand what cancer is? Emphysema? Secondhand smoke? Everyone in the States knows the "Tobacco: tumor-causing, teeth-staining, smelly, puking habit" mantra. Why did that not translate in France? I stayed in her room for maybe 15 minutes and then I HAD to get out of there. I've never ever smoked a single thing in my life (and proud of it!), but now I'm seriously concerned about my health, living here. I thought South Campus was bad. I went back to my room and I smelled like cigarette smoke. I had to change my pajamas and wash my face and rinse my hair. It's disgusting. And it's really a shame, because French guys are way hotter than most American guys (sorry, guys reading this lol I did say "most" in case you didn't notice and were offended), but the smoking just makes them so much less attractive :(  I also have a new goal: get Agathe to quit by the time I leave. And to try and combat the effect of the smoke, I'm going to try and motivate myself to go run in the park after class tomorrow. Hopefully people don't walk around and smoke there...I'm not going to get my hopes up, though. Tomorrow I have my new class that I switched into, with two other girls in my program so that's nice. And then I think tomorrow night we might be going to Montmartre. There's a cool pub crawl there I guess. We'll see how that goes....