Deuxieme semestre is looming, but at least I have ice cream.

Yesterday was a historic day in that I actually cooked something. I also touched raw chicken in the process, which is a milestone of a completely different, much nastier nature. Nevertheless I marinated chicken, cooked it, and managed to make nimchows, with the help of many vegetable-chopping, garlic-mincing, broccoli-sauteing, noodle-making elves. They turned out really well despite the fact that the sauce was totally different--the asian guy at the market refused to sell me the real spicy chilis, because I am obviously too white to know what to do with them. And actually I can't really argue with his reasoning--I probably would've found some way to injure myself and/or others with their powers of spicy. Either way, nimchows were had along with delicious broccoli and curry noodles (courtesy of the cooking abilities of Hannah and Kristin). Then there were brownies and Atonement, along with some French twists, some declarations of love, and other entertaining activities.

The second semester starts this week, and I have to admit I'm way more disturbed than I should be by the fact that, uh, there is no break between the finals we JUST took and the new classes. My brain cannot handle the immediate transition, and even though my finals were really not bad at all I feel like I need another vacation. Not because I'm desperately in need of one, but because I need to be able to mentally seperate one semester from the next. Oh, France, why must you wreak havoc with my nicely-conditioned American mind?

On Friday we had some kind of little excursion in Paris where we followed Laurent, our tour guide, around and listened to him talk about the super old and cool covered passageways that date back to who knows when. I guess *I* would know when if I had been listening, but Laurent's habit of standing in front of shop windows full of gorgeous vintage dresses (which obviously cost more than my life) while he was talking didn't really allow me to focus. At all. But if anyone wants to buy me an eight hundred euro backless pink dress I can totally hook you up with the address where one might find such a ravishing garment. You know, in case you were wondering. The good news is that we also got a free lunch out of the excursion, and that afterwards we headed to Galleries Lafayette to try on some of the most ridiculous hats ever created, not to mention to let some saleswoman stick a hairclip (which like many other things mentioned in this post, cost more than my life) in my hair--"just to see," because apparently she mistook me for someone who has that kind of money to throw away on feathery, bejewelled headware.

So, despite my mental unpreparedness, the second semester will be starting tomorrow (well, technically Tuesday because yet again I don't have Monday classes (evil genius, I know)). Wish me luck, and also wish me some more will power because I definitely found taro ice cream in the chinese grocery store and I don't doubt my capacity to eat all of it in a very short amount of time.