Champagne Continued...

Somehow another week has gone flying by and it's time for the latest blog post. Sometimes it feels like I've just arrived here, yet when I think back to the day I pulled into the Gare du Nord, with nowhere to live, no phone, no bank account and very little familiarity of Paris - it seems like a lifetime ago!

So this week has lived up to its predecessors with lots of excitement and parties through the night! I'm already worrying about how I'm ever going to be able to leave at the end of the year...

A quiet start to the week meant that Monday centred around lunch with Zuzanna. With no plans for the morning and another gorgeous, sunny, September sky I decided to walk all the way to the 15th. It's all very well hopping onto the metro and resurfacing 15minutes later on the other side of the city, but that's not what living here is about. I want to 'know' the city, and walking all the way through it is a fantastic way of doing this. I walked past beautiful fruit markets, old men playing boules, a solitary artist capturing a moment and even witnessed a typical ridiculous Parisian car-crash, just in case the scene was getting a little too halcyon! In the afternoon I took advantage of the new 'free museums for under 26s' and got hopelessly lost in the infinite corridors and rooms of the Louvre. I tried my hardest to be artistic and intellectual turning my head in all directions to admire the 16th Century paintings, but like the sheep I try my hardest not to be, I ended up heading straight for Mona like everyone else! Perhaps due to my complete lack of artistic genes, I still fail to fully comprehend why this painting is SO much better than all the others... (In my humble opinion, it is not!)

Coming to Paris I knew nothing about the music scene and nightlife so took it upon myself to do some research. After a while looking at clubs and venues on the internet, I stumbled across a singer/songwriter called Josh Weller (www.myspace.com/joshweller if you're interested). He was playing a gig in one of the most talked about clubs in Paris (Le Baron), so killing 2 birds with 1 fairly small stone, I emailed him and got on the guestlist for Tuesday's gig. Failing miserably at the 'fashionably late' entrance we had planned, Helena and I arrived before the doors had even opened and got sent to a local bar to have a glass of wine! Nothing happens very early over here...
At midnight, Josh came onto the small stage right in front of us and performed a really great set. The combination of self-proclaimed pop music with musicals influence and a natural performing talent (plus a crazy hairstyle!) meant that it was an excellent gig and spurred us on for an evening of chatting and networking! There was no doubt that the club had an air of exclusivity about it, and the drink of choice was certainly champagne, or the infamous Baron cocktail which tasted like Woolworths to me!! (I think it's from some childhood pick 'n' mix taste!!)
Being new in the city, it's only normal that Helena and I have only a few friends each here! So ever keen to meet new people, we spent the rest of the night talking to Josh and co. (including a man we affectionately named Mr Guantanamo, who I later discovered to be one of Paris' premier music promoters...oops, now I kind of wish I didn't spend all evening talking to him about pop music, like I knew what I was rambling on about!)

The next day Helena and I met Josh and Simon for drinks in a cute but extortionate little square only 10minutes from my flat on the Rue de Rivoli. Josh even partook in a bit of meditation with a hialrious loon all for the sake of entertainment! The guys left laden down with guitars and cases to catch the Eurostar home. Half an hour later, a phone call informed me that their train had been cancelled and they were on their way back into town! Eager not to turn down a Parisian social occasion I joined them and Josh's manager for dinner in a local American diner.
It was really cool to meet them and has had 2 positive outcomes... We now have some lovely new friends who are going to keep us up to date with the Parisian music scene and the meeting has also produced a soundtrack for the week!! Josh's girlfriend Paloma Faith released her single 'New York' this week and it has (slightly irritatingly) become engrained in my brain from the first hearing and consequently has become synonymous with my Parisian partying! After the playing it's had in this flat this week it's become positively anthemic!!

The highlight of Thursday was the Sony 'after-work' party. Marie who works at Sony invited us (erasmus lot!)to go along to the event. It's a popular concept these days in Paris. The party starts at 7, and there is free flowing champagne until 9 (battle of the elbows wins the most number of free glasses - gold medal here undoubtedly is rewarded to Henri!) and then the dance floor gets going. After a seemingly full night out, lots of champagne and socialising I was home and tucked up in bed by 11pm!

Living with a club in the basement it seemed almost rude not to investigate, so on Saturday night Helena, Henri and I popped down there in the lift (after several hours of warming up with some French wine, music and chat)! Excellent news, seeing as we were already in the building, we didn't have to pay the entrance fee! Good start... However, things turned somewhat surreal when we arrived. Apparently we didn't realise that it was a gay night to celebrate the start of Paris fashion week and frankly I feel slightly traumatised by the experience and making me re-live it is slightly terrifying. Especially the bit with the completely topless, big woman walking agressively around the club who subsequently crashed out on the bench behind us. Surreal doesn't describe it...

I know that this lifestyle probably can't feasibly continue for a whole year, but I'm not in a rush to give up the parties and champagne just yet! The city seems to throw up opportunities around every corner and I'm going to make the very most of it so I can never look back at my year and regret things I didn't do. :)