So I had my first demo...

And Club Queen wants me to come perform!! They want me to come in to do a show most likely on Monday nights. They're interested in my doing two 15-minute sets for €150! I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself. Also, the woman who contacted me in the first place is a bodyart, hair, and makeup artist who wants to do a full look for me for when I perform.

The club is also extremely interested in me doing fire, but I told them that I don't really know the logisitics of how well it would work in their club. I mean it's a big club, but I really need a lot of space when I perform, and I'm always concerned about safety. I'll see what I can do though.

Dad got me a camera! It should arrive in the mail (at my Paris location) any day now. I'm so excited! I've always wanted a digital camera and now I can really document all my adventures.
I'm soooo tired right now and I have art history class in the morning at some museum...can't remember where at the moment.

I love all of you and miss you so much!

I'm not completely useless at blogging...I did create a great video blog about two weeks ago, but was unable to upload it.

So I'm doing it the old-fashioned way.

This is a very surreal phase of my life at the moment. I don't really know how to structure this post, so I'll do a few bullet points first.

Things I miss:

• Friends!! All of them.
• My family, especially Amy
• Mexican food
• Cracker Barrel
• cheap stuff
• the horizon
• excessive amounts of fields, greenery, and animals
• UTK
• Walgreens
• my house
• familiarity

Things I love about Paris:

• EVERYTHING
• the metro
• amazing cheese
• amazing (and incredibly cheap) wine
• art museums upon art museums
• the buildings
• the language
• everyone's winter coats - they're so beautiful!
• window shopping

Dad came to visit on the 13th to come see the football (that means soccer y'all) match between France and Austria with me. It was so nice to see my daddy, and we had an awesome time. The first night we found a place to eat dinner was a total miss, but we made up for it with lunch the next day on a bench by the Eiffel Tower where we had top-notch gouda cheese, strawberries, hot french bread, and Kinder Bueno chocolate bars.

Interesting event while we were eating: We were sitting there enjoying the general splendor when a woman passed by us. She was dressed normal and had a little bag like tourists would carry. I wouldn't have even noticed her until she bent down and 'picked up' a ring on the ground in front of our bench. She did this whole 'is this yours? It looks like real gold. It's not mine.' Niether dad or I had any idea what she was doing, so we just accepted the ring when she said we could have it. Then she did a 180 and came back asking, 'well I mean if that's real gold, could I have just a little reimbursment for finding it?' Ooooohhhh! Now I get it! We just gave it back to her and told her to go away, but then had an enormous amount of fun watching her trying to scam other tourists. She would find someone, but look back and find us watching. It was really funny.
Anyway, dad and I were making our way to the closest metro station when it happened again, but with a different person. The guy bent down in front of us, but we were prepared! A restounding NO GO AWAY from both of us did the charm and he walked away.

We had a really nice dinner that night before the game. After eating, we stopped by a Franprix to get some candy to eat during the match. We went to Gare du Nord to catch the RER ligne B to the Stade de France. The train was packed with spectators, and it went straight to the stadium. Dad and I had been on a hunt to find a French football scarf that I could wear during the game, but the only one we found in a Paris tourist shop was €18. As we entered the mass of people going to the game, there were vendors all over the place selling the scarves and French flags. I managed to haggle a seller to get a €10 scarf to just €8. Dad got it for me and I was beside myself with excitement as we made the trek the the massive stadium.

Interestingly enough, as massive as the Stade de France, it still doesn't come close to the size of Neyland Stadium, which is the 8th largest stadium in the world. Just thought I'd put in that fun fact for you guys.

Moving on. We managed to find out spot, and it ended being an incredible game. There were hundreds of French flags and the energy of the place was amazing. France won 3-1!
After the game, I took dad to the crêpe guy that has a little booth open all night close to my place. Dad got a Nutella crêpe and was pretty impressed. He left the next morning :( , but hopefully I'll see him soon again.

I really do love Paris.
And it's not an exaggeration when people talk about Paris being the most romantic city in the world. It is. Trust me.
This is enhanced 110% when Sam comes to visit me.
**Disclaimer: Those susceptible to nausea due to overly cute and gooshy relationships can skip this part.

Sam came to visit me last week. He was arriving on Thursday night at the Gare du Nord, so I went to the station to go wait for him. It's a good idea to stay in the station the whole time because the Gare du Nord is in such a sketchy part of town. Anyway, I'm waiting for Sam's train, and the arrival board says it's going to be 40 minutes late. I've already arrived about 30 minutes early because I'm so excited to see him. So I wait and wait and wait as the 40 minute delay becomes an hour delay, and then an hour and 30 minutes. Ugh.
I managed to pass the time by sitting with a lovely Brazilian couple. It was a great experience for my French because it was our connecting language, but was very easy to understand them because they were speaking as slow as I do.
Anyway, I was desperate for a hot drink because I was freezing and I wasn't going to buy anything in the station because it's stupidly expensive. But (and I know I'm a hippocryte and you're allowed to hate me for this!) there's a McDonald's, or mac dou in French, across the street. They have cheap coffee!

I crossed the street with my coffee and was making my way into the entrance of the Gare. There are lots of sketchy people hanging outside the station everywhere, and this guy saw me and opened his arms in kind of a hug gesture (but he obviously was not looking for a hug). I just ignored him and walked past as quickly as I could, not listening to anything he was trying to say to me. He actually managed to grab my arm as I got close to the Gare entrance, but I used my superhero reflexes to escape! Whatever, freaks are everywhere in the world.
Then Sam's train finally arrived!!!!

I was basically glued to the barrier waiting for him to get off. He was the first person through, and it could have been a film noir lover's reunion scene.

Anyway.

We spent a blissful weekend together of doing nothing. We did manage to walk around Paris a bit and visit the Eiffel Tower. That evening we had €2 bottle of sparkling wine and strawberries while Sam read some of Wind in the Willows to me. I love my boyfriend!
Then Monday came and I cried like always when his train left. But I'm seeing him in 14 days for Fall Break! Wooo!


Other exciting news. Actually, probably the most exciting news EVER. I've contacted all the major nightclubs in Paris, and sent them my resume to try and book some shows. Club Batofar and Club Queen contacted me back, and they're interested in me doing some shows!!! OMFG!!






CLUB QUEEN






CLUB BATOFAR


Club Batofar is this major music venue that's on a huge boat on the Siene River. Club Queen is one of the biggest nightclubs in Paris and one of the most famous gar clubs in the world. I'm so excited I don't know what to do with myself. I'm probably going to come in on Monday to do a demo. I hope I get it...

I finished my midterms! Pretty painless and I'm pretty sure I passed all of them with decent scores.
I've been feeling homesick lately. I just miss my house amoung other things...it's so familiar and comfortable and there's free food in a kitchen I don't have to share with 80 people! And I have a big bed there with 8 bajillion pillows. I miss UT too. It's so pretty in the fall. I long for the serenity and creativity of the Art Department building.

But I'm in effin' Paris and can't complain. I may hoopdance tonight in the big room downstairs and practice what I'm gonna do for my demo.

I want everyone at home to know that I love you so much and miss all of you!! I can't wait to see you guys again and hope that you're all having wonderful times right now.

Jusque-là, mes amis, au revoir et bonne chance!

Glenda J.