I've heard a lot about the coagulative properties of the Family Dinner: families who sit down and eat dinner and talk about their day together are supposed to be better off than families who eat in front of the TV. I remember posters in middle school touting that "Famlies that Eat Together, Stay Together." 

Well, tonight is the last in Paris before we catch the Eurostar back to London tomorrow. My friend Jenette and I celebrated by going out to dinner at an actual restaurant. We've been subsisting largley on the nearby grocery shop, boulangerie, and "big panini place" for the last week, so tonight was a nice break. And since we'd had more than our fair share of baguettes, croissants, and crepes, we went in a different direction and tried out escargot.

Two years ago, I had no idea what an academic conference was. I assumed that professors and researchers just kind of hid in their labs and wrote things that only their obscure peers would read. Two years ago, I didn’t know anything about the active research process across any science, and I couldn’t have imagined that I’d be willing to buy a plane-ticket and drop a massive fee to hang out in a convention center with a bunch of psychologists.

It's day four of my Paris trip, and so far I've been alternating between eating pastries and looking at great art. There's an abundance of both in the city of lights. I'm going to have a hard time going back to eating croissants from Albertson's after this trip. 

Today I visited the Tuileries, a park in the heart of Paris. While I assume it's at its most grand in the springtime, it was impressive in the snow. Thanks to the snow, the ground in the park was just as white as the surrounding  buildings, all of which are ornate and noteworthy.