Le Fabuleux Destin d'Izzy

I know I waited a while to put up my next post, but I thought I would wait till the end of the week and just give the low down on everything that has happened since Wednesday.

Thursday was a really nice day because Mathieu's father and sister came into town on their way back from the mountains to go back home. Roland, his father, and Emilie, his sister, came to the apartment and we went downtown to eat lunch together and meet up with Mathieu's aunt who works at one of the universities in the city. We all ate at this cute little place called the Paradise Fruit and we had smoothies and a great lunch. They are so sweet and it was really good to see them all again. Also being with them made the day go by a whole lot quicker, which is always a plus. After lunch, Roland, Emilie and I went back to the apartment to hang around for a little bit then they said their goodbyes and headed back to Riom, their home and final destination. After they left, I occupied myself with small things around the apartment till Mathieu got home.

Friday was a pretty fun day. To start off the day it was pretty interesting because I had to go to the doctor so I could get a prescription filled here in France. When I finally made my way to the building, I got buzzed inside and walked to the elevator to bring me up to the office. Once I got in I immediately thought I should have taken the stairs. The Car of the elevator was no wider than three feet and about two and a half feet deep. Talk about feeling claustrophobic. And the car shook in an awful manner that kind of got me fearing for my life.

Once I got out of the moving coffin I made my way inside the office. The secretary opened the door and she welcomed me in. She sat me down on a chair and she sat at her wooden desk. She asked me a list of questions, but seeing my blank face when she waited for an answer, she tired for a different approach and asked me one word phrases in English to write on a piece of paper. Once the secretary was done with me, I was guided to the waiting room to await my turn to see the doctor.

The doctor understood English, but only knew a few words for speaking. Thankfully, I had Mathieu write down a guided list for the doctor to look at because none of the medical French terms were in my vocabulary yet. She looked them over and gave me an approving nod and we talked for a bit. After a few minutes of conversing, she wrote my prescription and my note for my insurance company and I was sent on my way. As a note, it does not cost you an arm and a leg to go to a doctor in France. That was something to be thankful for.

After my adventures with the doctor, I went back to my apartment, packed my backpack with my camera and money and went on another "Izzy's wonderful city tour!" I never went on the other side of the river so I decided it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to familiarize myself with that part of the city. Across the bridge I walked and up and down the small winding streets. It was really nice to see the other side of the city. I came across a park on the riverside that I meandered around and people watched. I found old men hanging around on park benches, shooting the shit with buddies and playing petanque, a game you play that is slightly similar to bachi ball.

Once I crossed back over the bridge, I came across a beautiful building that upon further investigation was an art museum. I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea to check it out so I bought a ticket and walked through the exhibits. It was interesting to see the collections of furniture and art from the 16th century on display. It was breathtaking that what I was looking at was older than my home country. They museum also had more current art pieces from Impressionism to Pointillism and a few others.

After my tour of the artwork, I went back out to the streets to see what other interesting things I could find. There were some great places to shop that I passed by that I didn’t feel too guilty to walk into. One was a vinyl shop where I bought a few records for half price. I shopped around a good bit, and when found myself in a familiar part of town, I headed back to the apartment to relax and play videogames.

On Saturday after grocery shopping, Mathieu, Tom, our roommate, and I went out on the town and went shopping because of all the sales going on. It was a cluster on the streets. People were everywhere trying to get to the shops that they wanted to before it was too late. I’m not really too fond of shopping in conditions like this and thankfully neither was Mathieu, so we just walked about the city while Tom did the bargain hunting.

We came to the Capitole Building and there was some sort of cultural parade slash performance where people from different regions of France and other European countries walked to the front of the Capitole Building and showed their stuff with different dances and music. It was really interesting to watch and very entertaining. The period clothing was cute too.

After the merrymaking we had walking around the city, they three of us went back home to eat dinner and to drink. After our after dinner cocktails were done, we ventured off downtown to a great bar slash club in St. Pierre's Square which is 5 minutes walking from our house. Fun times to be had by all.

Sunday was a pretty lax day where we just lazed about the apartment and chit chatted. In the afternoon, we got invited over to Mathieu's aunt and uncle for swimming and for dinner. They made a huge serving of paella with different sizes of shrimp, mussels, squid, and great wine and champagne. It was a great day to end the week.

I survived my first week in France with flying colors. This week, we will see how well I fair.