lost in Paris
So I got lost today for nth time, this time walking back from work to home, which is just amazingly dumb, because if there’s one thing I should have mastered by now, it’s the (very short) walk between work and home. I was wearing my most uncomfortable pair of shoes, 4 inch boots with a teetering pointy heel, and knew I was in trouble when I spotted a large, beautiful old building I’d never seen before. (This is the second time seeing a big landmark meant I was lost – the first time it was the Pantheon.) It turned out that when I came upon this structure (later deduced to be the Val de Grâce), I wasn’t completely off track, but then I compounded my mistake by turning the wrong direction. I am pretty stubborn but when I realized I was in the 14th, I finally took out my map and figured out how to go home. The long way, down Port Royal. Funnily enough, an English woman asked me in French where Notre-Dame des Champs was, and I actually knew, because it’s very close to my apartment, but I couldn’t really get it out in French and then she brusquely said “Nevermind”. She was gong the wrong way (and we were already pretty far).
I was doubly irritated at getting lost because I’d left work late (after 6:15) considering I wanted to eat something and leave for ultimate by 7. Thus I finally went to the boulangerie. It was delicious! And cheap! Got home, tore off some bread, changed into ultimate clothes, it’s already 7:25 and practice is at 7:45 in Noisy-le-Sec, which is really far away (12.7 km to be exact). Took the metro and RER and OF COURSE got lost again. And Noisy-le-Sec felt much more deserted and strange than Paris – it seems to be a working class suburb of Paris, and there are lots of apartment buildings and shops, but no one was out. Anyway, this time there were lights so I knew where to go even if it wasn’t the shortest path. Except, wouldn’t you know it, there are two stadiums with lights within a quarter mile of each other, and I went to the wrong one. Finally found the right one and couldn’t figure out how to get in, so I jumped the fence. Rolled in about an hour late, as far as I could tell.
Totally worth it though. Playing ultimate tonight was probably the happiest I’ve been since moving. The girls are all really nice, and it just feels so good sometimes to touch a disc.
I’m exhausted. Postdoc is exhausting. Everyone works really hard. I stayed up late last night because I couldn’t sleep and definitely paid this morning – I need to get an earlier start if I’m going to be leaving at 6 for ultimate or French classes. People come in early and stay late. It’s challenging, but I wanted a challenge. Glad to have the outlet of ulty though.