Every weekday evening I have to be home by 8:00 for dinner. By the time we get out of dinner, the cafés are closed and I go to bed. So, on most days, the only free time I have (which is the same as time to do homework and my reading) is the few hours after class and before dinner.

Today I spent that time at a new café in the Latin Quarter with my reading and a chocolate-flavored frozen coffee drink. I also stopped into a shop that sold art- and literary-related stationary, calendars, and the like. I bought a Victor Hugo bookmark for Les Misérables and some Victor Hugo stationary. I also bought a new totebag, as I have nothing appropriate for the long, heavy hauls I make around the city with my Powerbook. On one side of the totebag are silhouettes of a spoon, bowl, and milk. The other side has (what I would call) Surrealist silhouettes of cereal flakes. At a later date, I watch a music video that reminds me of this pattern.

I unintentionally choose clothing and bags with symbols instead of words, likely because written and spoken language is the only thing that separates me from everybody else here.

On the topic of language, I find French unsatisfactory for all the emotions I want to express. There are few other words for amusant. If it's funny, interesting, or anything short of bizarre, it's called amusant. The French student staying at the house enlightened me to intéressant. However, ma mère doesn't use any French adjectives other than bon, amusant, and terrible.

Song: Benoît Pioulard - Sous La Plage