Life is like a Box of Chocolates...

Family and Friends,

***quick note - I asked mom to send an email for me informing you of why I have not been able to send a letter recently! I am currently at a McDonalds (free wireless internet!) and I will send my update from here! I will be able to correspond with more ease in about two weeks (once my Neuf internet service is working at my apartment!) I apologize for the delay in responses and difficulties with recent communication!!!

Before I begin my update, I will provide a recommendation regarding the manner in which to read my letter… of which you are more than welcome to take with a grain of salt! The past two weeks have been an absolutely whirlwind of unexpected events… you will laugh, you might even cry (ok, not quite that dramatic!) but your trainer may thank me for providing an ab workout from the laughter directly correlated to entertaining incidents (aka. my life!). Thus, perhaps you should not read this dispatch after enjoying a large meal, as I would be terribly disappointed if it caused you to experience cramps. But if it is your routine to read the “SB update” after said meal, I would hate to disturb your routine. I guess what I am trying to say is… be warned, this may be long… (but entertainment will be included!)

First of all, THANK YOU, thank you, thank you for the wonderful and glorious birthday messages!! I cannot tell you how much I value each of your notes and cards… your messages truly are the BEST presents that I could ever receive!! I am so grateful to have such loving family and friends… I appreciate absolutely everything! I am honored to receive such encouraging and supportive words for my twenty-second birthday! (wow… mom and dad, your baby is twenty-two… how did that happen?!)

Exciting news… I am now a proud Parisian flat owner! (well, renter!) I will provide more details and pictures of my apartment in my next update, but for now I must recount a story which, after reading, you might say to yourself, “wow, why am I not surprised at all!” I always make breakfast each morning before classes (most important meal of the day!) On Wednesday morning, I made poached eggs. As you may know, the fragrance of egg shells is not too horribly pleasant. Thus, I decided to immediately throw the trash away in order to prevent an unpleasant stench from permeating my apartment. In Paris, apartment buildings have trash shoots since all of the buildings have many levels. Because the weather has been absolutely gorgeous recently - crisp mornings full of sunshine - I had my door open which leads to my balcony. Normally my front door does not move when left open (I bet you know where I am going with this…) I decided to quickly run my trash to the shoot (which is literally located about seven steps down the hall, behind a door). After wishing my egg shells a “bon voyage” down the trash shoot, I suddenly froze after hearing a discouraging “bam!” I squeezed my eyes shut, slowly turned toward the direction of my door, and held my breath. Please… please… not my door. I refused to open my eyes in order to prevent disappointment, but then I decided that, well… I need to know if I can enter my apartment or not. Alas, no. Apparently a gust of wind decided to befriend my balcony entrance, dance around my room, and leave through my entrance - causing my door to slam shut and me left speechless in the hall. Now, normally a closed door is no problem when the owner has a key in hand. In fact, doors are quite useful really - preventing theft, providing privacy… I am sure you can think of many useful reasons in order to have a door. However, when one is dressed in her “black baby-doll pajamas,” and is without shoes, keys or any possessions at eight in the morning… doors suddenly seem to lose their practical demeanor. What to do, what to do. My phone and all important numbers were all in my flat! Fortunately, and I cannot believe this now, there is a key store DIRECTLY across the street from where I live… gift! What are the chances? I waited until the store opened, then walked outside - mind you without shoes and in my horribly evident pajamas - to ask for help! Being that it was early in the morning, I was unable to avoid the crowds on the street. Thus, a plethora of Parisians witness an American scurry across the street in her pajamas, sans shoes! The owner came back with me to my door with keys and an x-ray (random, no?). With old Parisian doors, it is possible to use a heavy sheet of plastic to open the door. However, the owners recently installed a new lock on my door. Apparently the owner of the key-shop had not brushed up on his robbery skills because he was not successful in using the x-ray film (thick sheet of plastic) in order to open my door. He called a “specialist” who arrived about half an hour later with a few other tools. While I was waiting for the specialist, I was trying to think of other options I could exercise in order to enter my apartment. Then I thought of a brilliant idea! I would wait until one of my neighbors returned home, then scurry up the roof from their balcony, and crawl down onto my balcony!! Either that or I could practice my balance beam skills and rest a slab of wood from their balcony to my balcony and cross the bridge! Not the safest of options, but the dare-devil in me was absolutely entertained by these ideas! Did I mention the fact that I live on the top eighth floor? While continuing to day-dream, the specialist came and used his tools on my door. Success! Encouraged that he was able to open my door without breaking the door (though a tad bit disheartened that he was able to open my door without a key!) However, I was able to finally shower and change from my pajamas! Can you imagine SB in the streets of Paris in her pajamas (which do not qualify as “skimpy,” but by no means are horribly covering!) and no shoes?! What am I going to do next…

On Friday evening, nine LCB friends and I went to Le Violon D’Ingres for dinner (and to celebrate my birthday). The restaurant has received fabulous reviews around Paris and it truly exceeded its reputation. The stellar company, laughter, atmosphere, food, service… everything was wonderful! We met at the restaurant at 21.30 and did not finish until one in the morning! After leaving the restaurant, we all parted ways in order to return home. There is a brand new bike system in Paris (it is literally one-week old!) There are bike stations which are affiliated with the Parisian transportation system (including metro, trains, etc.) The stations are located every three-hundred meters. Thus, people are able to have another option in order to travel around the city. Because the system is new, there are a few glitches in the system. However, Alexandra and I decided to bike home from the restaurant! We were able to successfully work the system and hopped on our bikes! We biked around Paris from two until three in the morning! (We decided to take a few detours and have fun on the bikes before returning home… aka, biking around the Eiffel Tower while it glittered, around the Seine, etc.!) I was very surprised at the number of people using the bikes at the same early hours of the morning! Although I was dressed in a mini-skirt and high heels, I was able to maneuver uphill with ease (thank you leg muscles from all those years of dancing!!) It was a great way to end a wonderful day!

I used the bikes again on Saturday and Sunday because the weather has been absolutely gorgeous! I loved the wind blowing through my hair, the rays of sun dancing on the bumpy stone streets, the flower baskets hanging from balconies and windows of apartments… this city is something spectacular. While biking to the church service, I stopped at a small store and purchased several flowers for my apartment. I set the flowers in the baskets (which are attached to the bikes) and pedaled through the Parisian streets. I laughed to myself and figured that all I needed was a beret and baguette… one typically “cliché Parisian” to go, s’il vous plait? But it truly is a great system!

In my next letter I will describe my flat, as well as the events of this upcoming week! That is, if anything adventurous arises! Should not be too hard, especially knowing the trouble that I always seem to create! But thank you again for the wonderful birthday wishes! I cannot tell you how much I appreciate everything! Thank you also to everyone for the thoughts and prayers for my mom; she is recovering very well after surgery!!! Mom and dad were able to take a LONG walk at Highbanks today - really enjoy the beautiful day! I apologize for the marathon-long update, but these past two-weeks have been saturated adventures!!! More updates to come, but I must go rest up for tomorrow… great day for a competition!

All my love from Paris,
SB =)