Trapped in Paris! Day 3

So, back in January, I met up with a girl named Fanny for a drink. Fanny is Parisian, but is spending a year teaching and studying at Harvard. She's friends with my sister there, so when she was on vacation back in Paris, we met up and had a drink. Then a few days ago, she emailed me to try to get me in touch with more French people. She told me about a barbecue that her boyfriend was hosting, and that his sister (who is my age and loves film) would be there. So, on a whim, I went, and it was actually quite fun! There were a bunch of French people there, but also an Australian, a couple of Italians, another American, and a girl from Colombia! It was fun hearing about everyone else's experiences, why they were in France, etc. I am also proud to say that I was not the worst French-speaker there! The Australian had a French boyfriend, but had been living in France for a year and a half and still barely knew any. The Italians spoke good French, but I was able to keep up. The bbq was also fun because it was out in the banlieus (suburbs), so he was renting a HUGE, beautiful house with three other friends. There was an actual back yard where we could sit on the grass and out on patio furniture! So anyways, it was a random endeavor, but it turned out to be very fun!

Later in the evening, I had dinner with my friend Jill. She's studying in Aix-en-Provence, but was also stuck in Paris due to the volcano ash! She had been traveling for several days beforehand, and had been stuck in Brussels at the time of the volcano, but took a train to Paris while she still couldn't get home. SO MANY people that I know have been affected by this volcano! It's such a weird phenomenon!