Last night in Paris... We went out to do shopping after we cashed our cheque... then we went out to dinner at Jardin Notre Dame... They let us order and they gave us champagne... all for free! I was so stuffed! But it was sad to say good-bye... Paris was beautiful tonight too. I will miss Paris and the time I spent here... :*(

My office just threw a going away party for me and Lindsay. It was really nice of them to do this. Since this is France and we are working for a catering company (and it’s very well known, as a matter of fact), they took out I don’t know how many bottles of champagne, 3 trays of pastries (some of them have become my favourite during the past 2 months), and the whole office were drinking and joking around together. I really didn’t expect this… I mean, after all, we were just 2 little “American” interns in the company… we didn’t contribute that much… we opened the doors, sometimes we were sorta the receptionists… I didn’t like the web site I did at all… but it seems they sorta kinda liked it. So IT’S ALL GOOD! The party was something that I really appreciate though… but after all, this is France! Grab every opportunity to drink and eat! Bon app, happy partying!

I am done with everything! I cannot believe 4 months just went by like this… I didn't even notice that time was flying by. Yesterday I finished my oral presentation. It was a good feeling; as if a huge rock on my shoulder has been dropped. Then I spent the whole day walking around the city getting things done with Lindsay. The weather was beautiful, which kind of made me sad… When am I going to see Paris this beautiful again?

So today is my last day at work. We went down to lunch and after eating, we said our good-byes to the kitchen staff. It was so weird. I felt that I want to stay for some strange reason. Really, I cannot understand myself, ever.

I woke up at 5AM this morning because I left my windows open last night. The cars were running around outside my window at 5AM already. I lied in my bed wide awake, watching the sun rise reflects on my wall. As the colours changed, I asked myself am I ready to leave this place? I don't think so. Now I wish I had left some time in between so I could stay here a bit longer. Sigh……

That was it. I just finished my last weekend in Paris for the next I don't know how long. When will I be back in Paris again? Why am I stuck with work and not out there enjoying Paris?? You ask me? I don't know.

It was an eventful weekend... I achieved a lot actually... at the same time, I didn't do that much. It's just hard to believe that it's all over in less than a week. And I will be heading back home spend some time and then head to Sydney for 3 months. I am excited... nervous at the same time. But I don't want to leave Paris! There are so many things I love here... And there are so many places I still want to see... There are so many things that I simply want to have, to be able to get to it whenever I want...

I always get attached to places I stay. It is a good thing and a bad thing. When I was on the way back from Giverny, Adam and I were discussing this... When one moves around, it is hard to leave a place behind too. Little things and some people make you grow attached to a place... and you just want to stay forever! This happens to me every single time. But I still love moving around... why??

A few weeks ago, I started thinking about this... Will I grow attached to Sydney too after living there for 3 months? The answer I gave myself was positive. I will. And then the other day, my advisor from school sent an e-mail out to the students... We had to file our graudation application. I am really graduating... I AM GRATUATING! This is really scary. I have to look for jobs, I have to make money on my own... and most of all, I will have to make up my mind where I want to live for a while at least. Will I just settle down and not move after that? Should I just stop studying and starting working... and live the rest of my life like that? Why do we have to grow up? Life as an adult is so complicated. We have to worry about everything... and there are so many responsibilities. There are feelings to leave behind and there are decisions to make... Sometimes you get hurt, sometimes you have to hurt people. It is just not easy at all. And what was I thinking when I was young? Why did I ever want to grow up faster? WHY?

No use complaining though... Life is life. We have gotten this far :) So I went into a furniture store today and starting imagining my future home... Freak huh? Yup, that's me!

They were talking about salle manger yesterday the whole morning. I didn’t really hear what they say before since I wasn’t paying attention… Then I caught something… The big boss wants everyone to go to sale manger at lunch time… I was like, OK, don’t we go to the dining room every single day during lunch? Yeah riiiiiiiiiight! I was wrong this time! Lunch time finally came; I got up to go to the dining room. One of the Project Managers stopped me and asked me if I were going to lunch. I said yes, and then she told me to follow her, in the opposite direction from the dining room. I walked downstairs with her… It was a whole room of “pretty” food! Of course I started grabbing all the nice yummy foods. Later I talked to one of the assistants and found out that it was a testing and demonstration for the guests/clients. They were testing the food and the presentation… I guess it’s a big business, since the big boss and the manager were running around all morning with those guests! I will have to say… they are really good with cooking and presentations… The appetizers and main dishes (they were mostly “finger food” and salads though) were light yet flavourful, and the pastries were just luscious! Yeah, I don’t really get to do anything at work, but I get to eat! :-P

Wednesday night we got out of work and I was just determined to go up Arc de Triumph. We did. I took tons of pictures of it and was so ready to get night shots of Paris from above the city. But noooooooo, the administration of Arc de Triumph is a total MONOPOLY! They forbid the usage of tripods! How can they do this?????? Because this means all the nice night shots from there has to be sold by them! URGH! No wonder I never like anyone in power!

Last night, I wanted to go to Musée d’Orsay again. But when I got out of the dorm, it started to rain. Why does this happen every single time?? It better be a wonderful gorgeous day this Saturday when I am in Giverny finally!

Yesterday on the way home, I sat on the bus, stared out the window waiting impatiently for the bus to cross this road where I could get a great view of Sacre Coeur for 1 second. I do that every single day on the way home from work. It makes me happy. It makes my day. I do the same thing in the morning on the train to work… I do that while waiting for the train to come when I am going home. Just because looking at the Sacre Coeur makes me happy. It is such a beautiful magnificent piece of art. The white just sits silently on top of the hill, but no one can ignore it nor resist looking at it I don’t think. But I wonder… if there is a freak like me somewhere out there, waiting for the moment where I could just have a glance of Sacre Coeur everyday and feel happy and satisfied…

Sunday night after dinner, we were having tarot card readings… When it was Charles’ turn, he asked “how will I find the right girl” – not someone who likes him as a really good friend, saying “oh Charles I like you, you are such a great friend”

So that got me thinking… For people like me, I believe that love at first sight happens. But that’s not the only way. I believe that there is chemistry between people… when the components are right, the reaction occurs. Friendship has its own formula, so does love. But for others, love at first sight is totally ridiculous… They believe that the only way to find true love is to get to know each other and gradually build the love.

I think it’s both way though. You can be attracted to someone the very first second you see that person, but for it to become something enduring and meaningful, you will have to get to know each other and develop the trust and understanding between the 2. I am not irrational, am I?

There are so many online dating web sites now that it is getting a bit scary. Do people really need those web sites and hiding behind the computers to meet someone nowadays? Of course, I know there are great friendships created this way… (Yeah, Diny, I am talking about ya). But the population of dating someone from online is growing every single day. Where did our communication skills go? Aren’t we human beings supposedly able to socialize in a normal setting?

So Charles’ question got me thinking… is it possible to find the one? Do people need the help of Internet and agencies to find the right person? A year or 2 ago, my CS professor talked about her friend from Israel who got married to a Taiwanese girl just not so long ago before she told us the story. They met each other online, dated online and finally got married. The day of their wedding was the day they saw each other in person. Then he was off to the US to start his new business and career while she remained in Taiwan for her job. OMG. What have we human beings created for ourselves? Then the other day, I was surfing online… Came across this web site “Living in Australia” (http://www.geocities.com/mortixia/australia.html) where this American girl talks about how she met the one online and they fell in love when they saw each other in person and she actually moved to Australia and they got married. Well, I think that’s reasonable… at least they met in person and fell in love… But that’s still like a fairy tale to me… even though people call me the “helpless romantic person” So at the end of her web site, the American girl said… “See.. Dreams really do come true!” Yeah, dreams really do come true… Like Diny said, “When you wish upon a star… “

Keep on believing!

Sunday morning. As much as I attempted to get out of the dorm early, I waited until around 11. We headed out straight to Cimetière du Père Lachaise (http://www.gargl.net/lachaise/index.html). When we were leaving the Foundation, the clouds started to gather already… once we got there, it started to drizzle a little. But we carried on anywayz. The cemetery was huge… we kept on walking and get lost, walking and get lost… The trees were all very ancient and lofty. It felt like another world in the cemetery. There were petit alleyways, winding paths and green tree tunnels all over the place. On top of that, the designs of the tombs/graves are a form of art and architecture. It is really another world on its own…

After the rather “heavy” tour of Cimetière du Père Lachaise, I decided that I will save Versailles for the last weekend in France. The reason being it was late already and I really really really really really really wanted to see Musée Rodin (http://www.musee-rodin.fr/). We hopped on the Metro, and headed towards the Invalides. It was a beautiful afternoon. We walked from the Invalides to Musée Rodin. Since the weather was great, we started with the garden. The Gates of Hell was a bit smaller than I imagined. Nonetheless, the details were amazing. I don’t know how long I stood there for… but when I turned around, no one was around except Lindsay… Then we took a walk in the garden… I loved the organization of the garden. You could just walk between the trees, here and there, a sculpture would be there to surprise you.

Then we went into the main building. And finally, at last, I saw “La main de Dieu” in person. After all those time thinking about it! It was bigger then I thought it would be. I guess when you are only given dimensions and seen it on pictures, it’s hard to really picture the size of an art work.

So that was my Sunday… On the way walking to the metro home, this thought popped up in my head. It was a weird feeling… how I was just walking with Lindsay in Paris, we didn’t even need a map or a guide book. All we did was decide where to go, and we had a general idea of where it was, and we just hopped on the Metro and off we went. We walked around at least half of the city on our own! I just love traveling… but what I love even more is the feeling of getting to know a city really well, and become part of the city…

That was a productive weekend in terms of being a tourist in the city that I lived in for the past 3 and half months.

Saturday morning, I sat in the computer lab in the dorm for 2 hours, trying to find places to go in Paris on the net… That wasn’t very productive. Then I decided to go and take a picture of the Saturday morning market I have been going to many weekends since I have been here. It was not a very successful picture taking tour… I only took 2 photos and I wasn’t really satisfied with them… I will have to do something about this. But then I put my camera into my backpack, and started shopping for food. Really, anyone who knows those open air markets would never want to go back to supermarkets… The food is cheap, fresh, and just beautiful to look at.

After the purchases of my fresh produces at the market, I had a quick lunch with Lindsay and then we headed out. We started with the Marais since I wanted to go to a wine store there but I totally forgot where it was once we got there. Ended up walking towards Hotel de Ville. Kept on walking until we reached La Samaritaine and went straight up to the top - the panoramic. It was great… I had my zoom lens so I was taking pictures of the famous buildings all around Paris! The wonderful uses of zoom lenses!

Next stop was walking towards the Palais Royal (http://www.palais-royal.org/). We went there just to take pictures since we already had sort of a tour with the l’histoire d’art class. The garden looked sooooooo different from the time we went: all the trees were green, not bald anymore. And the tulips were just having a competition with each other, every single one of them was at its best to get their own picture taken. We walked around, had a little fun with picture taking, and headed towards the other end of the garden. Then I saw an old lady sitting in the garden feeding the pigeons, it was a really “hearty” scene. I wanted to catch that moment, but she got mad at me and stopped feeding and hid from me. OH WELL. I turned around, and saw this adorable girl playing in the sand… So click… I got a picture of her instead. :-P

We then walked towards the Louvre. It’s weird, but I still didn’t have a picture of myself in front of the glass pyramid… So we went there and I finally got my picture in front of the pyramid. I tried to get a shot of the one straight line of all the famous monuments from the Arc de triumph du Carrousel. But I have to admit, it was a beautiful day, and everyone in Paris seemed to be out doing what we were doing… I probably took a lot of “strangers’ heads shots”…

After the unsuccessful attempt of photography, we carried on walking through the Jardin des Tuileries. As usual, I find the garden really… French. It’s very organized and everything is in its perfect symmetry. Even though it was impressive, I really have to say I prefer English style gardens…

Towards the end of the garden, I realized how much we’ve walked in the city just in about 3 hours’ time. Paris is actually a walking city. I recommend everyone to take a walking tour around the City of Lights!

The song that's playing on my MD player right now:

Your Song, Elton John (Music by Elton John, Lyrics by Bernie Taupin)
It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen


So, Diny, life will be wonderful one day... ;-)

So I am not going to Giverny today... tough life... Going next Saturday. Instead, I am going to explore more of Paris today. It's nice outside the window... I woke up at 6 this morning... watched the sky turn from dark blue to light orangy blue... It was beautiful. Little things in life are beautiful. The most beautiful things in life are usually the things we don't notice and realize. The windows of this computer lab is half fuzzy, cannot see everything outside. But as I looked out the window, even the top of the trees are great, with bits and pieces of clouds flying over them... I just realized that, life is full of little things... and if you take your time to appreicate them, life is just a wonderous adventure.

Actually went out to meet DeShea after her work at Saint-Germain-Des-Pres. When we got out of the metro, some roller-bladers started coming from the corner... And then tons of them kept on coming... it went on for about 3 to 5 minutes. Don't even know how many people were roller blading... It was quite a sight.

I just planned my trip to Giverny for tomorrow right now. I am actually going!!

So I only have 15 days left in France… So little time, so much to do!

Haven’t seen Le Mont-Saint-Michel, haven’t been to Monet’s house in Giverny… have yet to visit the palaces and gardens of Versailles… Still have to go to Musée d’Orsay once more... Have to see the Rodin museum… OMG. Seriously, how am I going to fit all those into 15 days with 1 presentation due, still have to work on it, and working everyday from 8 to 7?? Oh, I still have to see Arc de Triumph and walk on the Champs-Elysée eand take night pictures of everything since Paris is the city of light… Why on earth am I stuck in this office full of smokers?

I actually went ahead and searched online… I found good web sties for the information that I have been looking for for a long time. If everything goes well, I will either be in Versailles or Giverny this Sunday!

I had a pain au chocolat this morning again... told meself that I should not when I was still at home. But I did some thinking too... I only have 2 weeks left in Paris, I will be back in Taiwan and then off to Sydney. When and where am I going to have more pain au chocolat? I was still debating inside, until I walked closer and closer to the Cafe by the RER station... Screw everything when I smelt the yummy smell of the freshly baked pastry and the melted chocolate... I walked in and bought a pain au chocolat.

On the bus to work, I started digging into the paper bag where my pain au chocolat lay. It was divine. I made up my mind… I am so going to try and have my own little café where there are home made pastries and all those little things I make. Not just home made, they are fresh, baked daily. Where am I going to have this… still a mystery. Perhaps I should learn how to make real good pastry first, what do you think?

It is cold today. I woke up an hour before the alarm was supposed to go off. It was a weird feeling, I was just lying in my bed, thinking about random things... what I am going to eat for breakfast, what I am going to wear to work. Life is one strange thing.

Two nights ago I got a notice from the Fondation, they are going to give me a new bed today. It is so strange... I have been living in Paris for more than 3 months now and I only have 2 weeks left here. The other day, while having one of those lazy mornings, I made up a list, while lying in my bed, of things that I still have to do before I leave Paris. Going down the list, I wondered, where were I this past 3 months?