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I sit down on the bed and unhook the sleeping bag froy mattress, I wonder if Willem has stayed here Has slept in this very bed It’s not likely, but it’s not ihborhood he introducedof rightness, throbbing right alongsideme to sleep

I wake up a few hours later with drool on my pillow and static inout of el like Tanya showed me--wash and wear, she said It’s very different, all chunks and layers, and I like it

Downstairs, the clock on the lobby wall behind the giant spray-painted peace sign reads seven o’clock; I haven’t eaten anything since the hard roll and yogurt they gave er The little café in the lobby only serves drinks I know that part of traveling alonein French, and I practiced that a lot with Madame Lambert And it’s not like I haven’t eaten alone plenty of ti hall this past year But I decide I’ve conquered enough things for one day Tonight, I can get a sandwich and eat in my room

In front of the hostel, a bunch of people are hanging out in the drizzle They’re speaking English in what I think are Australian accents I take a breath and walk over and ask theood sandwich nearby

One irl with streaky brown hair and a ruddy face turns to htly "Oh, there’s a place over the canal that eous smoked salmon sandwiches," she says She points out the way and then she resu to her friend about a bistro that supposedly sells a prix fixe for twelve euro, fifteen with a glass of wine

My ht of it, the food, the company It see I would never do

But then again, I’in territory I tap the Australian girl on her sunburnt shoulder and ask if I can tag along with the, and I’o," I explain

"Good on you," she replies "We’ve all been at it for ages We’re on our OAs"

"OAs?"

"Overseas Adventures It’s so bloody expensive to get out of Australia that once you go, you stay gone I’m Kelly, by the way This is Mick, that’s Nick, that’s Nico, short for Nicola, and that’s Shazzer She’s froland, but we love her anyway"

Shazzer sticks her tongue out at Kelly, smiles at me

"I’m Allyson"

"That’sI wasmy mum! Wasn’t I? It’s karma!"

"Kismet," Nico corrects

"That too"

Kelly looks at me, and for half a second, I stand there, because she hasn’t said yes and I’ to feel like an idiot if she says no Still, maybe it’s all that prep in French class, but I’roup starts to walk off, and I start to turn toward the sandwich place Then Kelly turns around

"Come on, then," she says to me "Don’t know about you, but I could eat a horse"

"You ht do They eat those here," Shazzer says

"No they don’t," one of the guys says Mick or Nick I’m not quite sure who’s who

"That’s Japan," Nico says "It’s a delicacy there"

We start walking, and I listen as the rest of theue over whether or not the French eat horseit Going to dinner In Paris With people Ielse that’s happened in the last year, this blows my mind

On the way to the restaurant, we stop so I can get a SIM card for htly lost, we find the place and wait for a table big enough to seat us all The menu’s in French, but I can understand it I order a delicious salad with beets that’s so beautiful I take a picture of it to textlocofor breakfast For my entrée, it’s so such a nice tieous travel tales, that it’s only when it’s time for dessert that I remember my promise to Babs I check out the menu, but there are no macarons on it It’s already ten o’clock, and the shops are closed Day one, and I’ve already blown my promise

"Shit," I say "Or ?" Mick/Nick asks’’

I explain about the macarons, and everyone listens, rapt

"You should ask the waiter," Nico says "I used to work at a place in Sydney, and we had a whole ive her a look "It never hurts to ask"

So I do I explain, in French that would er des h this is serious business and goes into the kitchen He returns with everyone else’s dessert--crèmes brûlée and chocolate mousse--and, miraculously, one perfect creamy ritty paste, figs I think It’s dusted with powdered sugar so artfully it’s like a painting I take another picture Then I eat it

By eleven o’clock, I’roup dropsout to hear soirl band play I fall into a dead sleep and wake up in theto discover that Kelly, Nico, and Shazzer are my dorm mates

"What time is it?" I ask

"Late! Ten o’clock," says Kelly "You slept ages And through such a racket There’s a Russian girl who blow-dries her hair for an hour every day I waited for you to see if you wanted to corave;re Lachaise Ce to have a picnic Which sounds bloody morbid to me, but apparently French people do it all the tio with Kelly and her friends and spendfun I wouldn’t have to go to dank nightclubs I wouldn’t have to face Céline I wouldn’t have to risk getting ain