C’est la fin de la semaine — ma première semaine à Paris! I made it. Oh-la-la!

Today began with my making things official by putting my name on the apartment mailbox this morning.

The morning class session went well, but in the afternoon, I found myself digging into the recesses of my mind, find and dusting off the memories of all the different French modes and tenses, i.e., the Subjonctif Present. Whereas the indicative tense in French expresses a reality/certainty, the subjonctive mode is used to express wishes, fears, doubts, regrets, opinions, feelings, etc. So basically, all the verbs we’ve gotten comfortable with, are now going to CHANGE, sometimes dramatically. Sometimes unrecognizably!

During the class break, while chatting with my classmate Irene, I mentioned that since it was Friday, I was thinking I might treat myself to lunch/dinner at one of the gazillion local cafés. Irene said she was going to go home – since her husband would be expecting her. But when class ended, she decided to join me. Well, why not! Pourquoi pas! What could go wrong?

Irene led me to an area I hadn’t yet visited. We decided we both liked the menu of one of the cafés, so we took a seat outside and placed our orders. The sun was shining, and the area was buzzing with people “Friday” was in the air! I ordered an Italian pasta dish, and Irene ordered a traditional French « Croque Monsieur » (grilled sandwich, eaten with a knife and fork). As we were finishing, the sun disappeared, and the wind kicked up a bit, but we were fine.

Afterwards, I thought I’d head home, but the next thing I knew, Irene was walking us in a different direction. Here is when she decided to show me where she lived in Paris. She just didn’t tell me. Not in Spanish, not in English, and not in French. We walked and walked. And I finally said, where are we going? We were in the 7th arrondissement! (I live in the 6th!) OK, not too far. However, she’s wasn’t finished walking. The next thing I know, I was getting a full tour of the 7th — l’hotel national des Invalides, le musée de Rodin, et la Tour Eiffel — and her apartment! Beautiful! All was fine, till the weather changed again, only more dramatically. The wind was gusting now, and the rain started — slightly more than a mist, but constant. Thankfully, I had my umbrella with me, but I had never used it before, and it was apparently broken. I finally managed to lock it in place, but the wind kept turning it inside out. (You’ve all been there, right?) Unfazed, Irene kept walking. I said, oh, non, non, non as I saw we were turning toward the River Seine. I said it’s my first week (she’s been here for months!) and I am ill prepared for a tour. I was carrying my heavy book bag and purse, and half-broken umbrella. I was wearing only a puffy vest with no sleeves, which was fine earlier, but not now. My arms were now damp and cold. Yeah, I was quite uncomfortable in any language.

All of that would have been difficult enough in a city one knows — but add in the unfamiliar, the surprise of it all, and Irene’s beautiful but very confusing French (her HEAVY accent from Spain makes most French words unrecognizable – so I have to literally translate in my head). OMg I might be tri-lingual by the time I get home. LOL! We were laughing a lot, but I really was ready to be home and warm — and I knew I had another 25-30 minutes of walking ahead of me. Mon Dieu!

Irene apologized again and again. I said it wasn’t necessary! She then insisted on accompanying me back to where we’d started this little adventure. She said she just didn’t want me to feel lost on Sunday. (As if I’ll remember all the different monuments and roads that she showed me! LOL! Mais, non! She doesn’t know me yet!) I told her I’ll use my Apple airpods and my iPhone (Google map) to find her apartment on Sunday. And I will text her when I’m in the area, so she can expect me. It’s really not that far if you exclude her FULL TOUR.

We had left school at 2:00 p.m. for lunch, and I arrived home at 4:45 p.m. I checked my app, and wasn’t surprised to see I had taken nearly 11,000 steps. And then my sweet mother-in-law called me (yes, she called me in Paris) for the 6th or 7th, possibly the 8th time. She couldn’t believe she was talking to me in Paris. Neither could I. LOL! I reminded her that I was 6 hours ahead, worried she might call me again in the middle of the night.

And since I passed right by « ma boulangerie préférée » I did buy myself « un pain au chocolat » because everyone needs a little bite of chocolate on Friday, non?

Next week, les verbes irréguliers!!!