Je suis la plus maladroite.

I am officially clumsiest person I know.

I woke up this morning, and having consumed almost a full bottle of water just before bed, I really had to use the WC.  I grabbed my computer and my water and made a mad dash towards our spiral staircase.

Unfortunately, my dash was a bit too mad…and before I knew what was happening, my feet were no longer moving down those treacherous steps, but instead were flailing around in the air as I tumbled down the ones that remained.  Between the clanging stairs, my thumping bottom and some very loud, obnoxious expletives, I managed to wake Kelsey up, who I’m pretty sure must have been thinking, “oh my gosh, there’s an earthquake and our apartment is going DOWN.”

What made matters worse was that there was absolutely nothing I could do to prevent myself from falling further; the only thought racing through my mind was, “SAVE THE MAC! SAVE THE MAC!” I held on to my precious baby laptop for dear life, and thankfully she emerged unscathed.  I wish I could say the same for myself, but unfortunately I can’t…both of my feet, my upper thigh and my back all took quite the beating, and I’m going to have some beautifully colored bruises emerging over the next few days.

Anyways, the next few hours were relatively uneventful.  I worked on some cover letters for internships and a paper that’s due on Wednesday.  I was doing great until Simone and Kelsey convinced me to go to Les Quatre Temps with them (believe me, it took a lot of arm twisting…haha, or not), which is a mall much like the ones back home.

We stopped to get some coffee shortly after we arrived, which brings me to my next horribly embarrassing story.  I was carrying our tray with a bottle of Coke and a big cup of coffee to the table (seriously, why would anyone ever entrust me with this task?).  I was ALMOST there, when suddenly, the bottle of Coke fell over, rolled to the edge of the tray, and pulled it downwards so that the cup of coffee slid and eventually fell over the edge of the tray.  Coffee was everywhere, and by everywhere, I mean everywhere.  It was on the table, the chairs, my jacket, my shoes (my beautiful, new Keds), the lady behind me, and  the cute little baby’s face.  Okay, that last one was just for dramatic effect…the baby was spared, but I can’t say the same for the poor lady, who I’m pretty sure had more coffee on her than was even in the cup to begin with.  Oops.

Anyways, after about 10 minutes of some fierce, Irish redness and having to endure the pitying stares from surrounding customers, I recovered and was ready to roll out and explore the rest of the mall.  Even though it was ridiculously crowded, it was pretty nice and had a lot of great stores; I eyed the endless skirts and dresses enviously as I patted my rather thin wallet.  I did, however, decide to invest in a big, salty bretzel.  And yes, I do mean bretzel…there is no such thing as pretzels here, and believe you me, you have no idea how much I’ve been craving some.  Ultimately a successful trip.

And now here I am, back at home, and unfortunately have more work than I know how to do.  Seriously, Sciences Po?