The following picture is real, I swear. I promise you, on everything I hold sacred, that yesterday afternoon I was walking home from the market-- not the grocery store, but the market, and came across what you are about to see. Not faked, not posed.

This is precisely why I never leave my room without my camera. Because when you live in the seizieme you never know what you will encounter. I walked past on my way into the boulangerie, went in and bought my baguette and pain au chocolat, came back out and saw the dog was still there and knew then I had to stop for a picture. No owner in sight. AMAZING.

With regard to the past week:
In honor of a holiday I am no longer allowed to celebrate,
Things I am thankful for...

1. HOT COFFEE every morning.
2. My archaeology prof not making me do a presentation in front of the class.
3. My free pass to the Louvre.
4. Hillsong Church Paris. Who knew?
5. Ex-roommates who send amazing care packages.
6. Ice.
7. Warm radiators on cold mornings.
8. Comte cheese. Don’t ask.
9. Scrambled eggs– whoever invented these has saved me an awful lot of work thinking up meals.
10.Being fluent in the English language without having to LEARN it.
11."Yeye" music.
12.The fantastic city I live in presently.
13.Pink champagne.
14.Holidays celebrated here and not in America– Toussaint, anyone?
15.The fontaine des Medicis; Canova’s Cupid and Psyche. My 2 favorite places in Paris.
16.A bed with a down duvet.
17.8-feet tall windows in my room with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
18.Small children in too many layers to move properly, skipping down the Paris street.
19.Being 21. Is there really anything cooler?
20.Orangina.
21.Amazing summer jobs that keep me longing to come back to the States.
22.Street markets.
23.People who speak this language better than me and still deign to help me out with it when I don’t know what is going on.
24.Travelling the continent of Europe with my best friends and on my own...
25.Good jeans.
26.Rockstars.
27.Groseilles.
28.Chocolate.
29.Nutella.
30.You...
I guess there is really nothing like living in another country to show you how much of a citizen of your own country you really are... I never would have considered myself particularly American, but this whole not celebrating Halloween OR Thanksgiving thing is really bothering me. Especially Thanksgiving... I miss the stress of this week before getting to drive home for the long weekend (with Kate, of course, the girl I have randomly driven back and forth between Atlanta and Raleigh with more times than I can count.), the cooking, Christmas just around the corner and all the shopping...
Thus, no leftovers, no cutout pilgrims in the windows, no children running around with construction paper Indian feathers sticking out of their hair, and no Charlie Brown movie.

And.
I won’t lie.
This may be the worst.
I can deal with the lack of a special meal, since most things here are delicious anyway. But the worst part is this...
No Black Friday.
Pas du tout.
What am I going to do with myself when the day after Thanksgiving dawns and I have no reason to be already in a parking lot waiting the unlocking of department store doors?
See, with my friends, this is tradition. Because no matter what happens, we all end up in the same city for Thanksgiving. So we spend it with our families, and then meet up before sunrise on Black Friday to battle the crowds and fight for bargains, and take breaks every few hours for hot chocolate or coffee, later on in the day nachos and queso... I can remember every year since before I moved out waking up at 430am to be in my car by 530 and at my best friend’s house by 6, where we would leave my car, get in hers, and ride to the far away mall in Chapel Hill, working our way, mall by mall, progressively closer to home. Last year I did it with a cast, which I used to beat people away when they tried to jump in front of us in line, and this year it makes me terribly sad that I am here... with nothing to do since I have no class on Friday anyway, so I could technically go shopping, and probably will, but it won’t be the same because nothing opens before 9, there are no special sales, and all the "Grands Magasins" (department stores) have had their light displays up since my birthday. Even Madame said at dinner a few nights ago, "Oh, Thanksgiving, I love it. What a lovely party... I wish we had something like that here..." Only she pronounces it "TONKS-geev-ng." Nevertheless, if even the FRENCH wish they had it, the Americans hit something right with that one.
More later, but in the meantime, consider a visit to me in this city where poodles wear sunglasses and ride motorscooters while 21-year-olds who have been driving for 5 years are stuck hoofing it.
~Blair