What A Day...

Yesterday's turn of events got me off to a rough start, seemed to take a turn for the better, and then dumped me back where I started.

I walk out of the house around 8AM to begin my typical hour-long - yes, 1 hour - commute to work. After reaching the RER (Paris commuter train, this is different from the métro), I find the gates closed and the station completely empty. Not knowing the reason but frustrated nonetheless, I hopped a bus that I believed would take me to the nearest train or métro stop possible.

Not the case. After a few stops, I realized that I was on the right bus, going in the wrong direction. It completed about 15 stops before finally coming to the métro. Now, already late (damn) and not wanting to miss a 10:00 team meeting, I scrambled to the métro, where I got to work mere minutes before the meeting actually started. Whew.

After work, which was thankfully eventful, my boss and I went to The Green Linnet, an Irish pub. There I met a bunch of really cool people from Italy and the UK, as well as France. I really appreciate the wealth of cultural diversity this city has to offer.

After a few drinks (my drink of choice being water, as I am trying to budget!), we hit up a restaurant down the block and had dinner. The food was not by any means exceptional, but I enjoyed the company (One of my boss' friends, a really cool fille named Agnés, informed me that the RER was shut down due to a strike. I have got to be on top of these things). I find that for the really outstanding cuisine, you have to shell out a pretty penny. I think that healthy and delicious options can always be found for cheap in America, but I've yet to find a cheap meal here that didn't include fries. The search continues....

Once I left the restaurant around 11PM to catch the métro, I reached home in about 25-30 mins, not bad at all....only to find that the bus that drops me off within a few paces of my house had closed for the night! Oh well. I took the only bus that was still running and trekked it home in a reasonable amount of time, jamming on the iPod all the way.

I have a date or two lined up for this weekend! Stay tuned.