an amazing weekend

Friday was the most stressful day at work.  The morning was very calm, however after returning from lunch there was a wave of stress that swept in.  Cyril was on his second day of formation (training) to become a manager at Upside Down and this left all the decisions and pressure on Emilie.  There were so many projects that needed to be finished and sent to clients that she was uber stressed.  The main project which we had been working all week on was the rock compilation album - Rock Line.  This was the one the project I wrote about earlier where I was given the opportunity to take close up pictures of a guitar.  We had five other freelance graphic designers working on possible options.  I was competing against professionals.  Wednesday we received everyones creations and returned to them with corrections after having a little réu with Nathalie.  I was told that my photos were good but the text needs to take a more primary role and really fit into the image.  Not having much experience in graphic design, this was a challenge.  I was supposed to be able to work with Thierry - the head in-house graphic designer - so that he could help me with text placement, however he was so busy with all the other projects that had been left to the last moment, I was again left on my own.  This was what made those last few hours on Friday mad stressful.  Ultimately, I finished two designs that Emilie and Thierry approved, created a pdf with all the chosen designs from the freelancers and mine, and we emailed it to the client.  I am curious to see which path he chooses.

One I left work, all the stress that had built up was immediately released.  I was super excited because my friend George from London, was coming into Paris to spend the weekend with me.  We met in New York at the SOFA show in April and really hit it off.  I was so excited to have someone to chill with and not be alone, especially on Sunday which was my 21st birthday.  I've officially been here a month today and as much as it has been amazing so far, it has also been really hard.  I have made some friends, but it has been a very difficult endeavor.  It is hard to find yourself alone most of the time, especially on weekends, but I realized last night that that is soon going to change.  For my birthday I invited the few friends that I have made here over for drinks and munchies.  It is always very risky to bring people together who don't know each other, because you run the chance of personalities colliding.  I invited my friend Lindsay who I went to high school with back in Montreal.  She was two years older than me, but when she found out I was in Paris she reached out to me.  I'm very glad, because I think she's such an awesome person.  Lindsay brought her friend Marguerite who I met Thursday night when I went with Lindsay for drinks at La Perle in le Marais.  Marguerite is Parisian and very sweet.  I also invited Gigi - who I absolutely love.  Although, she is originally Moroccan, I feel that she has given me a taste of the true "french friend" I talked about before.  We have been spending more and more time together at work and outside and I feel like we have been friends for years.  Sophie came as well.  Sophie and I went to elementary school together, and she lives down the street from my old house on Metcalfe.  We were really close in elementary school and then drew apart during high school.  My cousin is her best friend, so during the past few years I have seen her quite a bit.  She is such an awesome person and I can really relate to her on a lot of levels.  She is leaving beginning of July and I can't wait to spend more time with her.  Lastly, Stella.  Stella is a jewelry friend of my mothers who I knew of as a little kid.  She moved to Paris many years ago and we haven't seen her since this trip when my mother visited.  We had the most amazing lunch and time catching up then, when my mom left, she invited me out to dinner to this most amazing japanese restaurant in le Marais.  We had such a great time and couldn't stop laughing.  It was so nice to have her at my house for drinks yesterday.  Its nice to develop a friendship with someone who you get reintroduced to like Stella.  

We had a really wonderful chill night, chatting, drinking, eating.  It was so relaxed and so natural.  Everyone meshed so well together.  What was most amazing is that the language barrier didn't create a problem at all.  Gigi speaks very little English and George very little French.  It was so cool how we kept changing languages and translating one for the other.  Usually it gets annoying to have to do that, but it was the furthest from it.  

What also made my birthday was that there were supposed to be thundershowers all day sunday, however the weather man was so wrong.  It was such a beautiful night - warm and sunny all day as well.  Today it's raining, and I don't mind.  After such a nice weekend, its the perfect way to end it.  I took off work today and George is leaving early tomorrow morning.  Looks like a movie day.