Life in Paris: April 2013

My monthly wrap-ups are for me to share more of my daily goings-on; the little things that make up my life in Paris. For previous months, see here.

How would I describe April in three words?

Spring. Russia. Picnics.

It was a laid-back month, just as wonderful as each one that has preceded it so far this year, except with added hours of sunlight and degrees of warmth. Just when I think I can’t feel any more settled in my Paris life, another month passes and I’m proven wrong yet again.

It’s a shame I’ll be leaving soon. But more on that later. For now, a happy look back at another charming month in Paris:

April 2013

Breakfast at the Pompidou

I had a special opportunity to dine atop the Pompidou for breakfast then tour the Eileen Gray exhibit thanks to an invitation from a former Gaelic football teammate. I’ll be posting more about this soon, but it was definitely a highlight of my time in Paris so far — not many people can say they’ve eaten, or even seen, inside the Pompidou at such an early hour. Totally worth the seven am wake-up call.

Sochi, Russia

I’ve mentioned already that Russia was just a work trip, so I didn’t have time to experience much of the country itself. But I wanted to share just a couple more photos from my week there:

I’ve met a few Russians in my time, but few were as friendly as the ones I met in Sochi. They were so excited to host us, so warm and welcoming; the volunteers in the photo above kept yelling, “Welcome to Sochi!!” and waving with giant smiles on their faces at anyone who passed them with a camera.

After I snapped this shot of my new friend Boris here at our closing dinner event, I showed him the photo — he then looked up at me and slowly said just one word: “Facebook?” He then proceeded to feed me mojitos all night, even though they were ‘out of limes’ — he stock-piled a few behind the bar just for me.

On that note, at our hotel in Sochi, vodka was served chilled like a fine wine, and went down just as smoothly. I don’t want to assume and extrapolate that this is done in all of Russia, but it should be — one sip of Russian Standard and I thought, ahhh. I get it now.

But of course, the highlights of my trip were being able to tour the Olympic venues, meeting seasoned sports journalists from all over the world (over one hundred countries were represented at our congress), and — best of all — finally seeing my name in print on the magazine I’ve been helping edit for the last few months.

Tarantino Party

Girls’ nights have become more frequent thanks to a certain group of friends I’ve become very close with in the past couple months. One of them hosted a Tarantino-themed party recently, and I was impressed with how some people really threw themselves into their costumes. I was never big into make-believe and dress-up (every Halloween I just phone it in, if I bother to participate at all) so I took the easy route with a look from Reservoir Dogs. It worked surprisingly well. (middle photo courtesy Diane)

We also finally discovered a good club in Paris — one that plays hip-hop music, not more of the same techno/electro/Euro-music-I-don’t-understand repertoire. It’s called Le Magnifique near Palais Royale, and it doesn’t start hopping until 1:30 am (and you have to be dressed nicely), but it beats the oontz-oontz-oontz you’ll find in every other club in Paris.

Picnic Season

The joys of having a spring birthday are plentiful, including the ability to hold late-night picnics along the Seine. For C‘s special day, Diane made a frittata and we all brought the classic picnic accoutrements and had ourselves a beautiful evening against the changing colors of a glowing sunset against a perfectly blue sky.

(P.S. guys, I’m totally expecting the same deal for my birthday next month.)

I was also slightly obsessed that night with watching the moon rise over the Pont de la Tournelle, especially with this couple so perfectly lined up underneath the full moon. I even happened to look up just in time to see the guy lean forward to kiss the girl, then squealed like a middle-schooler (on the inside of course) as she grabbed his collar and kissed him back. Just the city of romance, doing it’s thing.

And finally, one last piece of good news: Today I picked up my carte de sejour! I now have French residency (until September, anyway).

It’s a huge milestone for me. In China and my first year in Paris I was on a student visa; in Singapore, I had a working holiday pass. This is the first time I’ve had a real residency permit — I’m now a (proper) resident of the European Union!

Other posts related to April:

Pelouse en Fête: Celebrating Spring in Paris
Instagrammed: One week in Sochi, Russia

Happy Spring, wherever you are!