I just got back from spending a wonderful 3 hours sitting in a cafe. I've wanted, for a long time, to be able to just walk into a cafe with a book, order a drink (hot chocolate, don't get any ideas!) and stay for 2, maybe 3 hours. Dream: fulfilled.
Em and I had a lot of work to do today and we were feeling a little stir-crazy from being in the foyer all day yesterday, so we wanted to get out. It's also really hard to focus on work when everyone is hanging out in the common room. Libraries have free wifi but are all closed on Sundays (like everything else in this city). There is only ONE library in the whole city--La Bibliotheque Nationale--that is open on Sundays, and most are also closed on Mondays. But still not desiring a REAL work space, we opted for a cafe instead. This required a little research to see which cafes in Paris offer the best free wifi. There were several contenders, but we had to eliminate those that were too expensive and those that were too close to our foyer. We need a change of scenery, you know? We found one in the 14th that looked promising so we packed up our bags and took a mostly-familiar metro route there. It's located in the south of Paris, almost at the periphery. I have to say, I quite enjoy the southern periphery of Paris, because of today and because of an event I attended Thursday night at Cité Univérsitaire. I can't really describe it, but it just feels...different. A little more spread out, if that makes sense.
The cafe was DIVINE. We weren't planning on getting food but we were really hungry so we each had salads. Again, salads are not part of my normal diet because they're too expensive and I can't get a good one unless I go to a cafe. GASP it was one of the best salads of my life! I do not exaggerate. The French really know how to put a salad together (hot dogs, not so much). We had dessert after too, also not part of the plan but so worth it. :) It was pretty empty, just a few other people there, also working in computers or writing in notebooks. It was cozy and well-lit but not too bright, and it just had an overall feeling of warmth. If I didn't have so much work to do, I definitely would have loved to write some poetry. The free wifi was also a plus! It got a little more crowded as the hours went on, but we were still the only ones who had eaten a meal--everyone else just drank. Zi-Peng stopped by to work with us too, which was nice!
It was a cloudy, not-too-cold-but-still-Fall-afternoon outside and it was so nice to watch life go by outside from inside the cozy cafe. The music was at times classical and relaxing, and at other times, downright funny-- Joan Osbourne's "What if God was one of us?" Taylor Swift's "Teardrops on my Guitar," and MIKA's "Happy Ending": YES, KATIEBIRD, this is for you; they played it!
We stayed for 3 hours and I got some work done that I needed, which was nice. But really more than that, I just loved being in the cafe for a long time. Next time I will just get a hot chocolate and sit for hours, maybe reading. I will definitely go back to this cafe, even though it's a leeeeettle out of the way from where I live. I just got such a good feeling from it and Emily and I want to be regulars there, maybe every Sunday.! Ah, so wonderful. I wish I could have frozen those 3 hours to make them last a little longer.
I'm really happy to know I found such a place. I'll also make another trip to Cité Univérsitaire, because I really liked that area. It was the closest thing to a college campus I've found, and it was so nice to almost feel like I was at goucher. There were lots of people running and walking around with backpacks and for some reason, that just made me really happy.
Why was I there, you may ask? Well, for my internship, I get invited to press events for recently published books/films. The first part of the evening was a showing of a documentary on the Berlin Wall, especially its fall. It was incredibly moving and striking. I've never seen images of it before, and it really transforms what I've learned in a textbook into a reality. The second part was an art exposition for a photography book on the actual art and graffiti on the wall. I have to write an article for the book, which is why I went. Each building at CitéUnivérsitare is "dedicated" to a different country, like Argentina, for example, and I was in that of Germany. It was just such a great night, last Thursday, and I wanted to share a little with you. :)
Ok, I'm off to get some more things done. Ciao!
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