Parties & Lebanese week

Last week was filled with parties and events that caused everybody to get as little sleep as possible. It was fun but also very tiring. It started with Nuit Blanche in Paris, last Saturday. Several housemates and us went to Paris, parked our car in the easiest parking space and took the metro to Opera to have a Japanese dinner. Apparantly (I did not know) there are several streets with very nice Japanese shops and restaurants all near the Opera. Next on the list was Centre Pompidou to have cocktails in the uber-trendy bar "Georges" on top of the museum.
Even though Paris was filled with people who came for Nuit Blanche (and also several people who went to bars to watch Rugby-the French won) we ran into INSEAD students almost everywhere. Paris was just like a little town, where you keep on bumping into the same people... From Pompidou to Les Tuileries to watch the fire displays and in between we visited a church where they had a groovy light show inside the church. Very special, to see 3-D effects inside a church.

At the end of this night we discovered that our very smart parking space was not so smart anymore. Metros were too full, the taxis did not want to stop, so we had to walk back from Tuileries to Bastille. We arrived home at 5 in the morning, to be greeted by housemate Timur who just came back from a party in Chateau Tavers. Good to know that a lot of people decided to go there in the end. The Tavers gang had fierce competition from the city of Paris!

On Tuesday Villa Foch had its first housedinner, and we combined this with the birthday celebration of housemate Wim. We had a dinnerparty with 22 people and it was perfect. We all decided to have another dinner in the beginning of P2. We were very happy with the gift that Luiz brought; strawberries, limes, vodka and cachaca (mixed into fantastic caipirinhas) This, together with a keg of Desperado's, Wine, Tequila and Champagne resulted in a very merry bunch of people and cambalhota's in our living room... dear guests and housemates, thanks for a great first party@Foch!

Wednesday was the Lebanese dinner and as expected beforehand, the tickets were sold out faster than a concert of Robbie Williams. Everybody expects food in the Lebanese week to be very, very good and it was!
The first course were the mezzes, with bread. Next 'course' (from the look on several people's faces) was a belly dancer who smiled the whole evening. Not even once did she change her expression. Belly dancing must either be fun or else she is one of the most happy people I have seen so far.

Thursday was quiet. We ate the left overs from Tuesday and decided to go to bed early. Well, I did, the students continued studying as their P1 exams are approaching.

Friday was the end of Lebanese week and therefore a good reason for another party. I was still too tired and decided not to go. Omar and two other housemates went. The party was very nice even though Omar was one of the earlybirds, he left with the first bus and arrived home at 3 in the morning.


Et maintenant, the house is quiet. Everybody seems to have slipped into a study mode, and the majority of the housemates spend their hours behind their books. Luckily in two weeks time, after the exams, we will all have a short holiday. Even though it is only 4 days, people are planning and talking about it as if it were the 6 weeks holiday in summer. Omar and I are going to Barcelona, where we will meet up with several INSEAD students.