8. Shop les soldes.

    This is actually way overdue, because les soldes (the sales) started a couple of Wednesdays ago. Basically, by law, stores can only put things officially “on sale” twice a year (for five weeks during the summer and for five weeks after Christmas.) During these sales, it’s possible to get amazing bargains, and as the weeks go on, stores discount more and more. The first few days after the soldes started, stores were like madhouses - I guess it’s the French version of Black Friday, except it lasts for weeks. 

   I did a fair bit of window shopping, but didn’t buy much, mainly due to the mini-panic attacks I would get at the thought of cramming my giant American body into another un-airconditioned French dressing room. However, I feel like after being jostled like cattle in the accessories section of Galeries Lafayette by old ladies frantically clutching scarves with matching manic gleams in their eyes was enough to be able to say that I have truly experienced les soldes.