Saturday 28th April 2007, 08:50

This week I'm back in Paris, making the most of my abundant free time. After spending my Easter holidays in the UK, I came back by Eurostar Monday evening. The timing coudn't be better. It was lovely weather in England the entire two-and-a-half weeks I was there, and the day I left it started to cloud over. When I arrived in Paris, at seven in the evening, it was hot. And it hasn't changed since then. I've been making most of the good weather and am trying to be as healthy as possible.

Tuesday, I went on an hour walk. Well, it was sort of two walks since I walked to Nation from my apartment, but I couldn't work out which way I wanted to go from there because Nation is basically a giant roundabout. So I caught the metro, and then got off at Chatelet and walked to Tuileries from there. I then went to uni for my one lecture of the week. Our lecturer wasn't there, in fact we've only had him for two-and-a-half hours in total (out of the time tabled 10) but we had a substitute in the form of a PhD student. She was really good actually, although she was frustrated by the very little general information we seemed to know. Mais, c'est la vie!

In the evening, I went to church, which had a new format; we got into two small groups and talked about a topic. My group was 'decisions'. I have to say I really enjoyed that evening. Although we did get onto slightly bizarre side tracks, like having one's head cut off.

Wednesday, I wrote some of my art essay in the morning, and for lunch I went for a picnic with Nicky on the Champs de Mars, just by the Eiffel Tower. Nicky has the fortune, or misfortune, of living right besides the Eiffel Tower. I then went swimming, but I was quite disappointed, as the swimming pool was covered (I thought it was outdoors), I had to pay the full fee (a whopping 2€60, extortionate!), and it was crowded. But that's what you get for going on a Wednesday, as all the schools are closed. I could have swum in one of the designated lanes, but since when I swim I look like I'm drowning (well, that's what my report for swimming said at school), and the swimmers already in the lanes looked incredibly serious, I decided it was best that I didn't disturb them. Some people were taking themselves far too seriously, but that's the French for you... and I know as an Englishman how easy it is to upset the French.

Thursday, I wrote more of my art essay, and then I had ice cream with Lucy and Katy Dey. Katy Dey has quit uni but is still working in Paris. We went for ice cream on Ile St-Louis, which has a ridiculous number of ice cream shops in a really small area. Although that is what the island is known for. And there were people queuing for miles (slight exaggeration, but 50 yards sounds less dramatic) because it was so hot. But we found a small ice cream shop with no one queuing, and the ice cream was really nice. There's always a possibility that there's a reason people weren't queuing for that one but for others. But that's how tourists work. I had a very nice raspberry ice cream (at least I think it was raspberry). I'm sure that counts as one of my five fruit and veg a day. They only go for ones where there are already really long queues to be on the safe side and then moan about how long the queues are. We sat by the Seine eating ice cream while Lucy explained why she hates Paris so much. We then walked through Ile de la Cite, past Notre Dame, crossed over the river and past Hotel de Ville, and decided that because it was so hot we'd have another ice cream. This one wasn't fruit orientated, in fact it was chocolate fudge brownie ice cream. A bastion of calorific temptation, but it was worth the possible later heart disease. There Lucy and I parted from Katy and went to uni to collect our results for Literature. I then went back to Lucy's apartment (she lives with Nicky) where I had dinner, although I did help pay for it as we purchased it on the way. Chicken nuggets and boiled potatoes. Loving my healthy life style.

For Friday, see yesterday's entry.

Today, I got up, got clean linen as it's linen day, and am now here typing this. I'm not planning to do much today. I didn't sleep much last night (told you I wouldn't!), so I'm gonna have a slow, not doing much day today. Which isn't really much of a change from the last three weeks. Or, to be honest, the last 11 months... I might finish my art essay, read some more of La Symphonie pastorale or maybe, just maybe tidy my horrendously untidy apartment. It feels like it's summertime, and the living is easy...