Day 67

Having been re-educated about WW2 in museums and in Normandy, I bought Band of Brothers DVD in London and am just done watching the 10 hours of it. I think it's spectacular, probably the best motion picture I've ever seen. Wouldn't have been able to relate to it as much if I haven't been in France and haven't been through NS; so although I'm 8 years late, it's still makes a better time to watch it.

Day 66

I fell asleep at Macdonalds, forehead on my palms on my wallet on the table. Handphone was in one of the pockets of my windbreaker slung on the back of my seat. It's gone when I woke up! Life goes on. Maybe pop by the nearest flea market this weekend and see if it's on sale there haha.

Day 64

Had a great time in London! Had dinner with Limin Qiwen Renji from NP on Thursday night, went for Singapore Seminar on Saturday after which had dinner with Wenxiang then came back on Sunday evening to have dinner with Chunhan (who stayed in my apartment while I was in London). All the smart people from Dunman haha.

Anyway I am quite decided on getting 3 Unsatisfactories for this semester (I'm only taking 3 mods). Then overload when I get back. It sounds silly but I guess it's even sillier to attempt to pass - the pain of everything in French and the guilt of scrapping through. I shall indulge in the books I bought in London.

Day 58

I THINK I experienced a fire drill today. Halfway through the lecture the alarm sounded, then people started packing their bags and I followed. Then evacuated the compound and everyone was jovial or smoking. Ten minutes later people started streaming back and I followed.

Day 57

My father is not a permanent secretary so too bad - can only stand outside take photo. But it's not too late to enrol, there's an upcoming basic cuisine certificate course from Nov 12 to Dec 17, fees at 7990 euros inclusive of uniform and equipment. If I had the $$ I want to learn all the tze-char dishes not this.

Day 57

There is only ONE skyscraper in central Paris - Maine-Montparnasse Tower. When it was completed in the early 70s, my walking tour guide said there were lots of criticism and people wanted it torn down and the local government from then on banned skyscrapers to be built in the area. And she added that if you want the best view of Paris, it would be up this building cos' you won't see the building itself.

Day 56

In central Paris there are student cafeterias and restaurants where food is being served BMT- style, just that it has a little more choices. Starter + Main dish + Dessert + Fruit + Bread = 2.90 euros. The quality is so-so but it really is the most value for money thing in the city.

Day 55

The guided tour went well. I was with 4 Americans, whose family members were involved in the battles at Normandy and they were there to take a look at where their fathers were 65 years ago. I was just an empty glass waiting to be filled. The picture got clearer, and the words "sacrifice" and "liberation" suddenly bore more magnitude for me. I didn't leave with a heavy heart, but was glad that there was some meaning in the travel.

Day 52

I am headed to Caen tomorrow till Sunday! Going to visit the Normandy beaches, the site where some crucial WW2 moments took place. Paid quite a bit for a guided tour, hope it's worth it!

Day 48

Since Thursday I've been hosting Xavier, this NTU Accountancy guy who's doing exchange in Amsterdam. On Friday morning we went for the Free Tour by Sandemans New Europe (they have free tours as well in Berlin, London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Madrid, Amsterdam & Prague). Yeah so after the tour it dawned upon me that actually there's still loads in Paris to discover and inertia has degraded me from a tourist to a resident a month ago.

Just confirmed plans to Berlin - 19 to 21 November. Everyone seems to be going Italy and Spain but I don't have the urge to leh. I'm craving for some breathtaking natural landscapes and I hope I'll find a worthy one to visit.

Paris Metro Trivia

Where to cheat: St Germain des-Pres (Line 4) [one exit door spoilt]

Where not to cheat: Chatelet (Lines 1, 4, 7, 11, 14) [there are people looking out]

Crime-infested: Gare du Nord (Lines 4 & 5)

Most haunted, probably: Couronnes (Line 2) [fire and stampede in 1903 caused 84 deaths]

Most convenient to buy cigarettes: Barbes Rochechouart (Lines 2 & 4) [random guys stand by the stairs with cigarette boxes in their hands attempting to sell]

Stinks of urine: 1 in every 2 stations

3 Books To Read If You're Doing SEP in Paris & Visiting London

Shusaku Endo was an exchange student in Paris in the 1950s and the stay there was so alienating for him he contracted tuberculosis. =/ Drawing from his own experience he came out with 3 fictional narratives in "Foreign Studies". George Orwell writes about his days mired in poverty in the two cities, and I love it when the streets he mentioned are the ones I've recently trodden on, 画面感十足! Charles Dicken's classic - I probably read the adapted version when I was young but never knew the two cities referred to London and Paris.

For those with hairy thighs do you all have the same thing as me? A hairless patch in the middle. Probably the wallet the keys the handphone stuffed into the front pockets exerting pressure on the follicles resulting in such a bare landscape.

I was having dinner at this kebab shop (loads of them in Paris, most of them of Turkish and Algerian origins I believe) then this man opposite me, probably seeing I'm Asian, showed me a note and asked me if it is Chinese or Japanese currency. I looked at it. A freaking Chinese HELL NOTE! The man was still quite enthusiastic, can't blame him, it's a $10000 note. =/ So in bad French I explained that the Chinese burn it for their ancestors who have passed away. The man kind of got it, thanked me and cursed Chinese people in general. Probably some Chinese prankster who gave it to him. Another reason for people to be racist.