I sincerely apologize for a lack of blog posts in the last few weeks. Since I got back from my spring break vacation, I've been kind of busy with schoolwork, tourismwork, and partyingwork, so it's been a bit difficult to find any time for blogwork.
That being said, the wrap-up to my semester has been an amazing one. I would have to say that the last three weeks of my program rank as my favorites of the semester, despite the fact that I had as much schoolwork in those three weeks as the entire rest of the semester.
So since I've put off this blog post a little too long, I'm going to have to summarize and give you the condensed version.
It was sunny and 75 essentially all of May, and I did a lot of walking, with no real plan, but a few ideas of things I wanted to see. I went by Montparnasse Cemetery, Luxembourg Gardens, les Arenes de Lutece, the Jardin des Plantes, the Viaduc des Artes, and Parc de Belleville. Paris was never more beautiful.
Also, as the end of the program approached, I gave up on cooking. This was bad for my bank account, but helped me find a bunch of great new places to eat. Paris has a crazy variety of ethnic food, and I hit up some new Lebanese, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Greek, and North African places. I also ate waaaay too many kebabs, but hey, it's better than McDonalds.
Another great thing about the last couple weeks was that I discovered how to use the Paris Velib' bike share system, previously thought to be limited to those with European bank cards. This was merely a rumor, however, and the world of "Paris by Bike" was opened to me. This world, unfortunately, was absolutely horrifying, as biking the streets of Paris was basically like trying to go for a run in the middle of a herd of wildebeest. Biking was at its handiest after the metro closed and the streets were empty and you needed a quicker way to get home than walking. This, however, is not an easy endeavor after a few too many pints at the Wall, so I usually stuck to walking or cabs.
The weather had many benefits, and one of these was the fact that parks opened up their lawns. It was also warm enough to comfortably be outside at night. Both of these things helped step up the Drinking Wine in the Open Air scene. It is the perfect pregame: a bottle of wine on the quais of the Seine as the sun is setting. Paris could not get any better.
As I alluded to before, the bar of choice for the past few weeks has been The Wall. Now, I've written about The Wall before, but even since then, it has increased in importance, and a lot of my favorite memories of this semester are from that place. Thus, I shall chronicle its beauty once more.
By the end of the semester, my friends and I had basically become regulars at The Wall. We knew the bartenders; which ones were good, which were bad (the worst, Pierre, was nicknamed "Pire," which means "worst" in French). They would give us free drinks and shots (B-52's once!) and we had repeated encounters with many other frequent guests at The Wall.
Becoming a regular is a great feeling, and I always cherish the occasion to do so. But why The Wall? Of all the bars in Paris, why did we choose to go here most often? The answer is manifold, but begins very simply. At first, we went to The Wall because it has cheap beer. 3 euros for a pint from open to close is essentially unbeatable in Paris. Most places don't even approach those prices for happy hour.
But that only got us through the door. If the place was boring, or weird, or the people there sucked, we wouldn't just keep coming back because of cheap beer. (or would we?) Nevertheless, The Wall was fun, and that kept us there. This is in large part because of the music they played. The Wall had a large selection of fun, classic rock and pop songs, most of which were excellent drunk singalongs. The Beach Boys, David Bowie, and Queen got the most spins, but we also heard a lot of Michael Jackson, Eagles, Bob Marley, and many, many cheesy 80's songs.
For drunk American college students, this selection of music is absolutely sublime. Needless to say, whenever a certain song came on, we would stand up, perhaps on chairs, and practically yell the lyrics to each song, while slightly confused and slightly amused French students tried their best to keep up in English.
This touches upon my third point about The Wall and probably the reason we ended up liking it so much in the end. The Wall is a very strange place. All of the people there, from the obnoxious Americans (us), to the French students, to the random groups of bankers and lawyers in their late 20's/early 30's, were a little bit off. This suited me perfectly. While those nicer, classier Parisian bars are enjoyable, you can't really let loose, as you are always image-conscious and trying not to portray yourself as a loud American. Which is unfortunate, because I am a loud American.
At The Wall, they didn't care who you were. It was a completely unpretentious night out. They were just as strange and thus were as bemused by our antics as we were by theirs. We made a lot of friends this way; trying to get French patrons to "raise the roof" or sing along to Buffalo Soldier.
I would feel bad if I didn't tell you about at least one of the characters we met at The Wall, so I shall tell you the story of my favorite encounter: Kems, also known as "French Vin Diesel."
Kems is a bouncer at The Wall, and all in all and exquisite person. He's a pretty big, beefy guy, with a shaved head and a chinstrap beard. He sometimes wears a fedora. He never wears sleeves, whether it means a dragon-graphic button down with the sleeves cut off or a fierce wifebeater/suit vest combo. He always has a man purse.
Kems also speaks nearly perfect English with a British accent, which isn't all that unusual for French people. What is unusual is the odd manner in which he talks: almost entirely in imperatives.
The first time I met him, he asked me if I was an American student. I said yes. He said, "You must stop speaking English. What you need to do is speak French, all the time." Then he went over to my friend sitting down and said, "Why are you sitting. You must be having fun. What I need you to do is stand up and start dancing."
It's endlessly entertaining. Kems is also a great dancer, carries a small leather belt/whip, and is prone to inappropriately interacting with women. What fun!
So anyways, I spent a lot of great nights at The Wall over the last few weeks, usually followed by Le Violon Dingue. Le Violon Dingue is a slightly larger bar/club that stays open til 5 AM. Our nights usually got pretty hazy and dissolved at this point, as people found their way home via cabs or bikes or foot. On my last night out in Paris, though, we were determined to stay up. Strangely, we met a nice French man named Guillaume from Le Mans, who took us to one of the only 24 hour brasseries in Paris, then paid for all of our food. Eventually, as the sun was coming up, I made my way home on the morning metro, reflecting on what an amazing semester it was in Paris. This was the best way to end my semester: a full night with friends from wine on the Seine to The Wall to Le Violon Dingue to a brasserie and then home on the Metro. As I went to sleep, I couldn't stop thinking about how extremely lucky I was to have had the amazing experiences I have had in Paris.
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