Last night, my neighbor, Caroline, invited me to a dinner with her friends. Since the dinner was taking place just outside my door, there really wasn't a way she couldn't invite me. Score!

Since August is when most Parisians take their vacation, most of them had just returned, and along with two birthdays, there was great cause for celebration. Caroline herself had just returned from singing Tahiti and Los Angeles, Dorothy spent 4 weeks tanning in Vietnam and Camille practiced her Spanish in Mexico. Caroline returned with a lot of souvenirs from Tahiti, one of which was a delicious recipe for a pasta dish with shrimp, pineapple, and coconut milk. Afterwards we had "joyeaux anniversaire" cake and Vietnamese candy courtesy of Dorothy.

Among the group there was a graphic design student, philosophy student, jazz musician, business consultant, international law student, and the equivalent of a well-paid international social worker. At first, they were all kind enough to speak English with me, but after the 3rd bottle of wine was poured, the kindness was replaced with a laidback familiarity that can only be found from young, well-relaxed, well-vacationed, French people.