J'adore Paris (who doesn't?)

Wednesday we had a couple lectures at Medecins du Monde, which is headquartered in Paris. During out lunch break we walked around, and unfortunately (I thought) a lot of the people in my group seem to have a thing for buying shredded cheese, bread, and sliced ham at the grocery store (not even deli ham or turkey, just prepackaged). I on the other hand found a boulangerie and got a croquet-monsieur, which of course is more different than I knew it and more delicious as well. Think of a large slice of bread with some ham and then cheese melted all on top, maybe or maybe without another piece of bread on top, and also add in some other kind of creamy softer melted cheese. My friends were grossed out when I told them it had cream in it but it’s really quite amazing. Anyway we got our lunches and ate on the steps of Sacre-Coeur, enjoying the sun and the beautiful view of the city. After lunch our second Medecins du Monde lecture was very interesting. Someone who’s a logistician talked to us, he basically coordinates and get things done – isn’t a doctor but is a person who figures out the rest of the logistics, including setting up tents and getting doctors through the mud and forests and monsoons. He was this guy with your typical French accent but had learned his English on the street so he wasn’t afraid to say “fuck” and “shit” with his description. He had some really interesting insights as he had worked all over the place, in Sudan and Iraq and I’m not sure what else, but basically it was cool because we got this uncensored version of humanitarian aid.

Afterwards we went back to the hotel to regroup, then went to a Lebanese place for dinner. It was okay but not as good as the Lebanese kebab places in Geneva. My friend from GW Claire is studying abroad in Paris this semester, so Beza and Sara came with me and we met up with Sara at the Champs d’Elysees. I underestimated the distance from the Arc de Triomphe at one end of the Champs and Concord at the other end, so we got off the metro at Concord, and got to see the ferris wheel and fountain and obelisk, which was cool. Then we started walking towards the Arc and got lost along some side streets. At some point I think we were near some sort of Palais because there were policemen everywhere and they got mad at us when we tried to walk on that side of the street. Anyway we finally found our way to Champs again and met up with Claire. We just went to a bar/pub and tried to order drinks, but apparently there are separate seats for people who order drinks and food so we got dessert in order to keep our booth.