Way to go Fenton!

So this morning, after going to bed super late last night (2:25am, because I was watching Grey's Anatomy) I came out of my room and went into the kitchen to make some breakfast. There are doors that close the kitchen and the living room from the bedroom side of the apartment and I opened the door that leads to the kitchen and smelled something really bad. I really didn't think anything of it because it does smell kinda weird here....I walked across the hall to the kitchen and saw this spot on the ground and Fenton, the dog, laying by it. He barfed on the floor and that's what the horrible smell was. Ugh....it was so gross. So I decided that I'd be nice and try to clean up a little because it did smell really bad and Renee doesn't come back for lunch until after 12:30. As I was cleaning it up I started gaging. It was so bad I had to run to the bathroom because I thought I was going to vom too. That wouldn't of been good.

I got Fenton's mess all cleaned up and decided to have some toast with nutella and jam on it this morning, as well as some yogurt, instead of cereal. I found some tea...Renee has the coolest tea thing. You heat up some water (she has an electric one that heats it up in like a minute) and then you put the loose tea in this pot that has a strainer. You then pour the hot water over the tea and the water goes through the little holes. The tea says hot FOREVER in this thing...it's amazing. I'm going to have to buy one. I'm sure you can buy them at home so I won't buy one here because the thing weighs a ton. I lost my appetite after eating one of the pieces of toast so I couldn't finish the rest. I got ready for school and just hung out around the apartment waiting to eat lunch. I made a salad and had some juice and then when Renee got home I left for school. I don't know why I leave so early.....I guess I could leave later but I get so bored sitting here doing nothing.

I bought this little magazine called "Pariscop" that comes out every Wednesday and it has all the theatre postings as well as some art things and all the listings for the majority of the movie theatres in Paris. I got to school an hour early and just ended up reading waiting for class to start, which I don't mind.

My class today was a cinema class and it was by far my favorite of the week. I've never taken a cinema class before, but I've always wanted to. We watch a movie every week, which unfortunately means that class is 4 hours long instead of 3...which blows, but the majority of the time we're watching a movie. I got into the class room and there are 4 other people from the program in the class with me. There was construction work going on outside so we had to switch classrooms. In our new classroom, the teacher (who was wearing a pink button down shirt and suspenders) had problems using the projector. We wasted half an hour trying to get the thing to work. I thought to myself...seriously this would never happen at U of I. It was so bizarre. Class was really interesting but I have a feeling that it's going to change the ways I watch movies. Like for example, I'll look for the things we talked about instead of concentrating on the movie. Oh well....

After class I met up with the girl from the program named Amber and we went to a cafe and I got a hot chocolate and we talked about how we're adjusting and stuff. She's nice. We left and got on the metro. I had to grab a new form for my year long metro pass called Carte ImaginR because I messed up my first form and I some how lost my metro map, so I grabbed another one of those.

Tonight Renee has some swimming class thing....not really sure what that's about but I guess she doesn't get home until really late so I'm by myself tonight. I'm not sure what I'll do but I'm starving so maybe I'll make some food first.

a bientot

This new home doesn't feel like "home"

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I've been busy moving in and trying to get settled and then there was a problem with the Internet....joy

Sunday I pretty much bummed around the dorm all day. I packed, read, ate lunch and just sat around waiting for 6:30 to roll around so I could leave for my host family's house. I decided that I was going to take a taxi to my new house because I don't think I could handle carrying my purse, backpack, giant backpack, and drag my suitcase up and down the stairs of the metro, plus make 2 transfers to get to my metro stop. I was told that the taxi ride would be around 25Euros so I was prepared and had my money ready for that. I hailed a cab, the first time I've done this by myself and ridden in it by myself....the driver was kinda weird but he helped me put my bags in the car and all that so that was nice. It was only a 15 minute ride and only ended up costing me 11.50. I wasn't sure how much to give him for a tip so I gave him 2 euros. I asked this other girl how much she gave him and she told him to keep the change. I gave him a 20 so there was no way I was letting him keep all that change. Naturally, the door code that I was given wasn't the right code for the apartment.Thankfully, there was a sheet on the door that said who lived in what apartment and told you how to page them. I found my number and pushed it and nothing happened. Meanwhile, I'm standing there at the door looking like an idiot with all my bags and the girl in the window above me is staring at me like I have 5 eyes.

I must have paged Renee's number 10 times. I knew that she was expecting me at 7 and it was 6:50ish. Someone came out of the door so I just went in and took the elevator (I was so happy there was one) to the 6th floor. There wasn't an apartment number on the information sheet that they gave me. All it said was "at the end of the hallway." I found it, pushed this little button that I thought was the doorbell and waited. After pushing the button (which turned out to be the button that you push to make the hallway lights go on) a few more times and having nothing happen I decided to knock. I knocked a few times and there was no answer. I was starting to get worried because I wasn't sure if I was at the right building or not. I sat on the floor for a little bit debating what I should do. I found the courage to knock on a door and this guy's like "who's there" and I'm just like ummmmmmmm "I have a question" he unlocked his door and I asked him if Renee Filatre lived here and he's like yea she does and he shut the door. What a kind man.... I went and sat back down on the floor. The lights in the hallway went out and I got scared (I hadn't figured out that what I thought was the doorbell was actually the button for the hallways light). Someone came out of the elevator but it was a guy and he said "Hi" which I thought was friendly and I said hello back but then he just went inside his apartment. It was after 7:30 and I was starting to get angry. She was expecting me at 7 so why wasn't she there? I decided that if she didn't show up by 8 I would call her cell and ask her where she was. Well, about 20 minutes after I decided that, she showed up. She apologized a million times and said why she was late but I couldn't understand her because she talked so fast.

She showed me my room, which is pretty decently sized. I have a full bed and a little desk, a computer with a printer I can use, a closet, and another side table. It's a cute room. She showed me quickly where stuff was in the kitchen but she was talking so fast I had no idea what she was saying. She then took her dog named Fenton out for a walk and I started to unpack. I called home to let them know I finally got into the apartment and I got really sad. I was really nervous and I really didn't know what to say to this woman who I just met. She came back and told me that when I was ready we'd go to dinner. We ended up going to this little Italian place. I had a pizza...it was alright. It wasn't Olando's or Chicago Style Pizza but it was okay and I was starving so I probably would've eaten anything. We talked a bit during dinner but I felt like I was asking her too many questions and she really wasn't asking me anything. I guess I'm her 3rd student that she's had live with her and maybe she just didn't feel like asking me any personal questions other than how many siblings do I have....but whatever. She paid for dinner, which was really nice of her. She showed me where the metro station was and I knew that I wouldn't be able to find it in the morning because it was dark.

When we got back she got ready for bed because she works very early and I finished unpacking my things and setting up my room. I didn't have a very good nights sleep. I woke up a few times and freaked out because I didn't know where I was. I then woke up sweating because it was so hot in my room. When I woke up in the morning she was gone. I had cereal for breakfast, a good change from bread at the dorm. I really wanted a cup of coffee but I couldn't figure out how to use her coffee pot so I went without. Renee comes back home for lunch every day because she lives so close to work. She made me lunch which was awesome and then she told me that she'd come to school with me because the night before I told her that I was really nervous about taking the metro by myself. I thought it was really sweet of her to offer to take me to school. I made it there with plenty of time and saw Lizzie so I just went with her to wait for class to start. I went to this office to look for this lady who was supposed to have my ID and of course she wasn't there and wouldn't be back from lunch until I'm in class. We left the common area (kind of like the quad at U of I) and went to what we thought was our class....it wasn't, it was some weird office thing. This lady showed us where the classroom was and we were a bit late but the teacher didn't seem to mind.

My first class was history of Europe. It seemed like a cool class from the description online but it really wasn't that interesting. It was very hard to understand the teacher. She spoke entirely in French and spoke very fast. We did some lame introductions and she split us up into nationalities. I thought to myself...wow, that would never fly at U of I. There were 10 Americans in the class, about 7 Asians, 1 Australian, and some others from Spain and 1 from Russia. I really didn't think that there would be this many Americans in my classes. If I wanted to be in class with Americans I'd be at U of I, not in France. Anyways, after an hour and a half of class we got a 10 minute break. I got a diet coke and stretched my legs, hoping it would help me from moving around so much in class....it didn't. I really can't sit in a classroom for 3 hours. I'm so used to having 50 minute classes and checking my phone to see what time it is when the class is boring. This doesn't work so well when you know the class is 3 hours long.

Class finally ended, 10 minutes late, and I went to see if I could get my ID. Of course the office was locked so I'd have to get it later. A few of the girls from my program went to the park but I decided to get back home and ended up going with this other girl in the program named Amber who's having a hard time adjusting like I am. I made it back to the apartment and waited for Renee to get home so we could have dinner. She didn't get home until after 7:30 and then had to take her dog out. She didn't come back until after 8 and we didn't end up eating until 8:45. She made pork chops, which I really don't like because I'm really not that big of a pork fan but she made a sauce for them for they were alright if you covered them in sauce. She also made veggies (broccoli and cauliflower, which I don't like) and some pasta that we had leftover from lunch. I ate all the food even though I was full after the pasta and veggies but I felt rude not finishing. She asked if I wanted chocolate yougart for dessert and I was like ummm sure. It was basically chocolate pudding, the French don't have a word for pudding. I tried explaining it to her but she had no idea what I was talking about. We finished after 9... I don't know how they eat like that...I had a stomach ache at night from eating so late.

After dinner we tried figuring out how to get my computer on Renee's wifi thing. I knew what I was doing but she had no idea. She didn't know the password to her wifi connection so I tried 3 passwords for all the connections that showed up on my computer. She finally decided to call the company and she ended up getting disconnected after they told her to restart her box. When she called back, there was no answer....of course. So we had no Internet. I was pissed. I went to bed and watched season 5 of The Office on my computer.

Today, I woke up, ate breakfast and finally figured out how to work the coffee pot. It makes individual servings and the coffee is really strong so I added a lot of milk and sugar. I was feeling kinda depressed this morning and just layed in bed staring at the photos I brought from home that I put on my wall. I went to school 2 hours early today so I could pick up my ID. When I got to this woman's office it was a mess. She couldn't find the right paper to fill in my information so I ended up sitting there for a half and hour watching her tear apart her office. She finally found it but then the machine wouldn't work. She was like, you'll have to come back tomorrow but then she decided she'd try once more and thankfully it worked, so now I have my student id card.

Class today was just as bad as yesterday. The teacher did speak a lot slower but it's a class about impressionism and post impressionism. It's the first art class I've ever taken and I obviously had to make it hard on myself and have my first class be all in French. I really had no idea what she was talking about but once she put up the paintings I kind of got it. We have this option of doing this thing called "Nocturne du Louvre" where we pick a work of art and research it and with the help of the teacher come up with a summary of the painting. We then go to the Louvre and stand by the painting and people come up to you and ask you about the painting and you explain what it is. I signed up for it because it sounded cool...hopefully it is. This class, like all my other classes, was 3 hours long. The girl next to me fell asleep....

When class ended I got on the metro and went to the grocery store that is right by the apartment to buy some food to make when Renee doesn't make me dinner. We decided that we would have lunch every Monday and dinner every Thursday but for the other days I'm on my own to make lunch and dinner. I bought some rice, pasta, what I think is spaghetti sauce, some salad, tomatoes, a cucumber, some yogurt, a bottle of diet coke, some juice boxes, and a package of ham. My debit card wouldn't work for some reason so I had to pay with cash. For dinner I made a salad and this pizza that I also bought at the store. It was pretty good. Renee came home and she ate and I just hung out in my room when she ate because I didn't want to sit at the table and stare at her and watch her eat. I talked to her for a while and we tired to figure out how to work her tv but we had no luck. She told me she gets American tv channels but I don't believe her. I think she said that someone was coming over either tomorrow or this weekend to show her how to use it. So we'll see.

Sorry this post was so long. I'll try to update more often. I was going to update when I arrived here on Sunday night but I was using the computer that's in my room and the keyboard is really weird so it was taking me forever to type simple sentences.

Renee goes on vacation for 2 weeks next week and I'm kinda worried about being alone. I feel safe here it's just that it's already lonely enough because she works from 8-12 and then 2-7 ish every day and she works on Sunday. Wednesday nights she gets back really late because she has a swimming class and Friday she also gets home late because she has a theatre class she goes to. So I'm alone a lot which isn't a lot of fun because I'm lonely and missing home enough as it is.

My fingers hurt so I'll try to update tomorrow

a bientot

Welcome to Versailles...where they herd you in like cattle and slaughter you

Don't worry, they really don't slaughter you at Versailles.....

As you can tell, I went to Versailles today. I've been there before but it was a lot more interesting going during late summer/early fall. When I went it was early spring and none of the fountains were running and the gardens looked horrible. But today was beautiful. We took the train out to Versailles and it is a short 10 minute walk from the train station to the chateau. There were so many people there it was horrible. I really did feel like a cow being herded into a room to be killed. People there seriously were taking pictures of everything. I really do mean everything...paintings, the floor, the walls, the ceiling, beds, chairs....all that jazz. It is a very pretty place but I really don't find it necessary to take hundreds of photos of Marie Antoinette's bedroom or Louis XIV's bed where he died. It took us an hour and a half to get though the few rooms that you get to see. We had an audio tour and it wasn't that good. The things that they told you were not that interesting and they were clearly obvious. For example, when we were in Louis XIV's bedroom it literally said "this is louis XIV's bedroom. This is where he slept" I'm not even joking. There were way too many people there and it was so hot in the rooms (probably because of all the slow moving cattle) I felt like passing out. My favorite room out of the entire chateau is the Hall of Mirrors. If you didn't know, it's where the Treaty of Versailles was signed that ended WWII. It is very pretty and when I was there last time it was being re-finished so you really couldn't see anything. But it's finished now and it's amazing. There are 17 sections of mirrors on the walls to mirror the 17 windows.

The funniest thing today was there was this older Asian man leaning on this table and the sign on the table clearly said (in 3 languages) "Do not lean on table" I took a picture of him disobeying the rules because it was just too funny.

After the tour we went out into the gardens which are so pretty. There are many fountains (Fontaine, en francais) and for 2 hours some of the fountains are going with the water while the other ones are off and classical music plays. It's a really big spectacle. It was really neat to see. As we were walking down the long walkway that goes from the steps of the chateau all the way down the grounds we heard this announcement that in order to conserve water, one of the fountains was not going to be going off. Of course, it ended up being the fountain that we went to go see, the fountain that is the furthest away from everything.....go figure. We sat there staring at this huge fountain waiting for the show to start and it never did. I was pretty bummed because we missed all the other ones. That's a lie, we did see the shows but I really wanted to see one from start to end. Oh well.

We left Versailles and headed back to the train station. We missed the train and had to wait for the next one. We made it back to the dorm around 8ish and headed up to the terrace to catch the rest of the sunset. I was starving so we all left and I went and bought a sandwich (again) and a crepe (again....but that's okay because they're awesome). We ate dinner on the terrace and it was really nice.

Tomorrow I move in with my host mom and I'm pretty nervous. I don't get to move in until 7pm which really sucks because I would've liked more time to finally unpack and get settled. Now I have to rush so I can get a good nights sleep for the first day of school on Monday. I also have to figure out how to get to school from my new home. I'm scared to go on the metro by myself, but I have a map and as long as I plan my route before going I'm sure I'll be okay. I want to get to school early to try to pick up my id...because I still don't have it. My luck I'll get there and the place where I have to pick up my id won't be open.

I guess that's all for now. I probably won't blog tomorrow, unless I unpack really fast or something but we'll see.

a bientot

FINALLY.....a REAL meal

I made it to Friday. It's been a really long week, not gonna lie. I've had fun and all and I've seen some amazing stuff I'm just home sick and really just want to get into a routine. I think once I have a set schedule and stuff I'll be alright...hopefully. I really wish my blisters would go away. They really hurt and now I have blisters on blisters so awesome...

Today was an alright day. Kinda emotional, but what day isn't? We had a meeting at 10 with this lady who talks about the history of France. We had to go to the building by ourselves today because Dr. Costello had something to do. Not that we haven't been there before it's just that he has been out safety net on the metro. He's been living in Paris since the '70s so he knows what he's doing, where as I really don't. Anyways, so we got on the metro and I was walking the normal speed of every one else in the station and one of the people in the group asks "why are you walking so fast?" and I respond "because we have to be there at 10." I don't think she really like that all that much but whatever, I really could care less. We had to make 3 transfers to get to station closest to the building we were going to and as we get off the last train, someone in the group says, "Let's take a break for like 5 minutes" I thought to myself, "why must we sit down? it's 9:50, we still have to walk to this lady's building" but did I say anything? No, I didn't. So I just stood there and waited. We made it to the building on time, I just was afraid that we were going to be late, and all that...plus it just looks really bad.

After the meeting, which ended a little early (thank god...because it got boring) we had all afternoon free to do whatever we wanted. Some people went off shopping but I don't have the money to be buying things I really don't need at this time so I went and ran some errands that I've been wanting to do all week. I bought a new blow dryer because mine isn't working. I'm not sure if it's broken or if its the weird plugs but it doesn't work. So I bought a regular blow dryer instead of a diffuser which sucks, but oh well. I also got this book that has all of the arrondisments in it plus all the streets in Paris with the closest metro stops. It was recommended by Dr. Costello so I figured since he uses his daily I should get it. I had to buy more metro tickets to last me until the 1st of October when my monthly pass kicks in. I bought 10 and I just figured if anyone comes to visit me this year I can give them the extra tickets because I'll have a year pass hopefully by November. Oh and I also bought a sandwich and a diet coke for lunch. It was okay (the diet coke was obviously awesome) but I'm tried of eating the same things.

I did laundry today which was soooo much fun. It cost me 4 euros to do one load of wash at the dorm. I couldn't believe it was that expensive. The machines are really weird. There are like 12 different temperature setting and since I'm not very good at the whole Celsius thing I just guessed and it happened to be cold water. There was only one dryer so as we speak my clothes, as well as my roommate's, are hanging out the window drying......still.

We had a welcome dinner at le petit chatalet which was really good. It was right next door to Shakespeare and Company which is this amazing bookstore right by Notre Dame. The food was amazing. It was seriously the first REAL meal I've had since I left home. My stomach was happy. I had this tomato, cheese and pesto thing for an appetizer, chicken (which I didn't think was that great) and rice for my main dish, and this weird cheese (sort of like a very sour cream cheese) and fruit puree for dessert. That was pretty good. We had FREE champagne and wine for dinner. The wine kinda sucked but the champagne was good. The dinner conversation kind of got awkward at some points and since I was at the very end of the table I had no one to talk to so yea....kinda awkward. After dinner we walked back to the dorm and some people went out but I really can't afford cover at clubs plus drinks so I didn't go.

Tomorrow we're heading to Versailles for half the day and then we're free to do what we'd like at night. We're taking the train there tomorrow and I guess it's like a 45 minute train ride. Hopefully there's a seat so I won't have to stand that long...my blisters won't be happy.

A bientot

Wine is cheaper than water: celebrating your 21st birthday in a foreign country

Yesterday was my birthday....big whoop. The day started off by grabbing some more delish breakfast....right. Delish my butt...I'm tired of it already and it's only the 5th day here. Anyways, we left the foyer for my school: l'institut catholique de paris (ILCF). It's only a short walk through the Luxembourg gardens to get to the school which is nice, not that I'll be living in this part of town. When we got to school I was kinda disappointed. There were so many Americans there. It was like walking into a small class at the U of I. I was like ummm where are all the Frenchies? Apparently, the real "french" students don't go to this school because it is an international school for international students. If you're smart enough, which I am not, you can go to school with the french students. We had an oral exam to take and I was expecting it to be like all the other oral exams I've taken at school. It was nothing like that at all. I was in a room with about 7 other students, each had their own teacher/administrator to talk to. I walked in with this lady, she asked me where I was from and what my hobby's were and then she looked at my schedule and goes yep, everything's good (except in French). Then we walked out and I was done.

I was supposed to get an id card (sort of like my i-card) for school which gets me into the library, cafeteria, and best of all ...ALL THE MUSEUMS IN PARIS FOR FREEEEE!!!!!! ANY TIME I WANT! yay. Well, the pictures that I was REQUIRED to turn in for my study abroad applications didn't make it to the school....go figure. They're probably lost in a drawer somewhere waiting to be found. So I had to give Dr. Costello a picture of me and now I'm just waiting on my id. After our "exam" we were free to do whatever we wanted until 2. Everyone else wanted to go shopping at H&M and I 1) don't have any extra money to be spending on things I don't really need, like more clothes and 2) I don't want to go to a store that I can find in the majority of malls in America. So I left them and followed Dr. Costello back towards the Luxembourg gardens.

Here's a few pics from the gardens. I took these from my iPhone. There are more on my camera but I haven't had the chance to upload them yet. The garden is really cool. There were a lot of kids there and I was like umm shouldn't you be in school? well, french kids only go to school Monday-Tuesday and then Thursday-Friday. Sometimes they go to school on Saturday mornings but not all the time. Those lucky jerks!! I sat at one of the benches for a while and this lady sitting a few benches away decided to share her pastry with the birds. I HATE birds, so now there are all these birds flying around me. I thought I was going to have a panic attack or catch bird flu or something, so I left. I saw a group of people doing Tai Chi. It was kinda funny looking but oh well. There was this large pond with a statue in the middle and they had these little sailboats that you could rent and play with them in the pond. I thought about renting one but you could only rent it for an hour or half an hour, and I didn't have that much time. I left the garden and finally stopped at an atm to get some cash. I then got this delish pastry called pain au chocolat and a coffee for 2 euros (left). I then went to the fanprix (a small, inexpensive grocery store and bought some things. The wine was of course for my birthday. I then discovered that wine in France is much, much cheaper than bottled water...weird, I know. The bottle cost me 3.50 ish Euros. A bottle of water is around 4 euros. I bought a bottle of water at the airport in Switzerland and have just refilled the bottle with tap water (i guess it's safe to drink now). I also bought a diet coke and a sandwich because I haven't had a diet coke in days....I was starting to go crazy. After our meeting in the afternoon which was about swine flu (awesome) we left the dorm and took the metro to the louvre. We lost 2 people on the metro, but thankfully they got on the next train and met up with us. We entered into the louvre from the underground entrance. If you've read "The DaVinci Code" this is where one of the glass pyramids is inverted (the point points towards the ground) and it's "supposedly" where the virgin mary is buried. So of course there were a million people taking pictures of that. We had the same guide in the Louvre as we did the day before at the other museum. I really like him. He's so knowable. We learned about how the louvre was originally a chateaux and slowly became bigger and bigger and then they decided to make it a museum. I had to take all of my pictures from the louvre with my iPhone because flash isn't allowed in the museum, and my camera suck without flash. Here are a few pics from the louvre. The first picture is the biggest painting in the louvre. I'm not exactly what is is called but it's when god or is it jesus? turns the water into wine. The next picture is of course is Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The Mona Lisa is not that impressive in real life. It's very small and it's behind like tons of protective stuff. It's very dark as well. Tons of people crowd around it. You are only allowed to go so close to the painting, and if your flash goes off the guard yells at you. It's cool but it's not that impressive. The next is a statue of Diane I think Louis XIV (14) was obsessed with her or something. I have a picture of Venus (the statue w/o the arms) but it's not on here. The next is the Winged Victory of Samothrace (Nike Victory). It is very impressive. It sits atop a huge flight of stairs and just stares at you as you walk up to it. It's probably one of my favorite things in the louvre. Last is the glass pyramid that is now one of the entrances of the Louvre. Many Parisians hated the pyramid for a long time (it was designed and built in the late 80's) they thought it was an eye sore (they thought the same about the eiffel tower too when it was first built) but now it's one of the top attractions in Paris. We were told that if you were to spend 3 seconds looking at all of the works of art in the Louvre it would take you over 3 months day and night to look at everything. We only saw a few things and I was so tired. It's also really hot in there so that sucks.

After the Louvre I headed back to the dorm with 2 other kids. I ate my dinner on the terrace and when everyone came back we cracked open the wine and celebrated my birthday. They were so nice and bought me some desserts! Although I only ate the brownie because the other ones were weird, but it was the thought that counts. They even had a candle and sang happy birthday. It was nice. Here's the view from the terrace at sunset on my birthday. The other picture is of the eiffel tower at night. At 9pm every night it sparkles for 3 minutes and does so on the hour. It's really cool. After awhile I went back down to my room to call home. I then got really home sick. It's just hard being so far away from home :( I'm hoping it gets better once school starts but right now I'm having a hard time. I am happy that I came because I think I would hate myself if I chickened out at the last minute and didn't end up going. Today we've got a meeting at 2pm. We had the whole morning free so I took advantage of it and slept in. It was nice. I realized yesterday that turning 21 here in Paris is not a big deal. I didn't even get carded when I bought my wine. I really wanted someone to check my id but they really don't care. I guess I'll have to wait until I get home to get carded. That's all for now, we're going to the centre pompidou (a mondern museum) after our meeting and then I'll probably come back here, get some dinner and figure out how to do laundry before I leave on Sunday. Also, my hairdryer broke yesterday so I have to buy a new one tomorrow....great. So until later,

A bientot

Riding the metro...day 3

So, it's day 3... and I'm still jet lagged which really blows. I'm really tired during the day and not that tired at night when I should go to bed. I'm also pretty home sick...it's kinda pathetic I guess. Some people I've talked to have been like you're home sick? what? go out and do stuff?!?!?! well it's not very fun going out and doing stuff when all you can think about is home and wondering what everyone is doing while I'm here and how much I'm missing. It's not like I haven't done anything...I've done ton's of stuff.



Like today we went on the metro for the first time and it was so confusing. I really hope that I'll be able to do it all by myself. We had to make 3 transfers to get where we were going. The train is really fast which is good and I guess it's pretty reliable, which is also really good. We went to this office and talked to this lady about French history. It was either incredibly boring or I was really tired but it was really, really hard not to fall asleep. I think she noticed that all of us were having a hard time paying attention so she asked if we wanted to continue at our next meeting...to which we all agreed yes. We left and a few people in the group left to go exploring while me and 2 a few others went back on the metro to head back to the dorm to get some rest before our meeting in the afternoon.



I got more passport size photos taken at the metro because apparently I didn't bring enough. We made it back to the dorm and I stopped to grab a sandwich at this stand. It was pretty good...ham, tomatoes, cheese and some green sauce pressed into a pannini. Not to bad...it was only 2.90E. I really wanted a diet coke but for some weird reason pop is really expensive here...bummer.



I took a nap for a bit before our meeting. Our meeting was about security and safety in Paris...it pretty much scared me. We learned about all of these horror stories from Dr. Costello's (the resident director) past students. They were horrible...people getting harassed, beat up, pick pocketed and robbed....awesome. Then he's like, but Paris is one of the safest big cites in the world. riiiight!! Anyways, he's just like be really observant and if you do that you'll be fine.



After our wonderful meeting we left for the metro again and headed to le musee Caranavalet which is a free museum that explains the history of Paris through paintings, artifacts, and other old things from when Paris was first formed. It was pretty interesting except that it was so hot in there. I got yelled at for using my flash on my camera...oops. oh well. Our guide for the museum, Guillaume (I think) was very knowledgeable. He talked pretty slow too so I understood a lot of what he was saying in French. He left us and we had the rest of the night free. After hanging out in one of the first public gardens in Paris, myself and the one guy in our program, Jordan decided to head back to the dorm. He wanted to sleep and I wasn't feeling well.



The metro was PACKED...it was rush hour. There were so many people. I was worried about the doors to the train closing on me because they don't give you that much time to get on or off the train. As we were walking on one of those ramps that move really fast (like the ones at the airport) this lady tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to move. I was like ummmm okay. Apparently I wasn't walking fast enough for her.



I got back to the dorm an really did nothing for the rest of the night. I talked to my mom on skype and uploaded some pictures. Here's a link to my pictures that I posted on facebook. If it doesn't work...please let me know : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=319057&id=619060439&l=3086ea5934

That's about it for now...I'm going to try to go to bed. Tomorrow's my 21st birthday...I really could care less. That kinda makes me sad but I think it's because I'm not at home with all my friends :( I miss everyone! love you all!!!

Amy

A Year in Paris: Day 1 and 2

After this incredibly long week, I've made it to Paris. It was a very rough week, I'm not gonna lie. I think I cried more than the 5 month old baby my mom watches. But, I knew that it was going to be hard to leave home but I didn't realize it would be this hard. I was too tired to blog last night so here's an overview of the flight, day 1 and 2.

We left Chicago around 7:15 and our Swiss airplane was one of the nicest airplanes I've ever been in. Apparently they are all brand new. We each had our own t.v. screen which was pretty sweet, and all the other standard airline stuff. However, we did have really forks, spoons, and butter knives instead of plastic ones. The food was alright. I had some chicken and rice thing. I really couldn't sleep on the plane. The guy I sat next to was a bigger guy so our thighs awkwardly touched. Then there was this family of 5 sitting next to me and I was worried that her 2 babies were going to scream all night but they really didn't. I started watching "The Proposal" on the plane but for some reason it stopped and it wouldn't let me watch it again. I had to settle for "Angels and Demons." If you haven't seen it, don't. It was a waste of 2 hours and 15 mins. The rest of the flight was pretty decent. I was feeling really nauseous for some reason...I really don't know why.

We landed in Zurich, Switzerland around 10:30 or 11:00 am Zurich time. The airport there is very small but it's really nice. Our flight to Paris was only an hour. It was a really small plane. For some reason I get nervous on small planes. I sat next to this French couple that literally talked the entire flight. I listened to my iPod and could still hear them, they were that loud. After landing in Paris we actually walked off the plane (like walked down the stairs and onto the tarmac)....it was weird. Everyone thankfully got all of their luggage. Mine was so heavy I didn't think I'd made it to the bus. We met Dr. Costello, our program director and he's nothing like a expected to be. He's an American and has been living in France since the late 70's. He's pretty much you're stereotypical French man. He even has a fancy man purse. The bus ride into Paris wasn't that long. Everyone fell asleep except me and I'm glad I didn't because I think if I did, I wouldn't wake up.

We are staying at Foyer International de Eutdiants on the Boulevard Saint-Michel in the 5th. It's a really pretty neighborhood. Our room is pretty bare. 2 beds, linens for the beds (which was nice) small, flat pillows. There are 2 desks, a small closet, and a big armour. It reminds me of something out of Harry Potter...maybe because I'm just a dork....but it's very minimal. The best part about the dorm is the view from the terrace at the top of the building. It is amazing. I saw it and they say that it is the 2nd best view of the Eiffel Tower in all of Paris. It's so pretty! I went out to dinner that night with the kids in my group and that's when I started to realize that things are more expensive here than they are in America. We just wanted tap water because if you don't say that the waiter assumes you want sparkeling water, which is too expensive. Our waiter gave us a funny look when we told him that's what we wanted. The restaurant was called le Depart Saint-Michel. I ordered a sandwich, and it was pretty good. After dinner we wandered around the Latin quarter for a bit and looked at Sorbonne, which is one of the oldest universities in the world. We walked back to the dorm and called it a night after some chatting on skype.



I had a rough nights sleep. The beds are not very comfortable and are pretty small. I'm still adjusting to the time change so I'm usually really tired during the day and not as tired at night when I should be. Our breakfast was the typical French breakfast: tea, coffee, or hot chocolate, bread with butter or jelly and either apple or orange juice. That is the only meal that we're served for free during the day so I try to eat a big breakfast of bread...my jaw starts to hurt after awhile because the bread is really crusty, but so good.



Day 2 consisted of meetings, a boat ride down the Seine, and a lot of walking. Our meeting was about the layout of Paris and all the neighborhoods. We had to put together a map of the neighborhoods. My partner Lizzie and I didn't do a very good job. We learned about the metro and it seems really confusing right now. I had to buy this pass for the week and one the for month of October because apparently you have to apply for a year long pass...which I didn't know about (we weren't told in our meetings) and I won't it until November at the earliest. The passes were so expensive it was nuts. The month pass and the one for the week, plus a card ended up costing me around $115...about 78 euros. It's a horrible exchange...I know :( I'm trying to be really careful about all the money I spend because I know that I don't have a lot of it but everything here is quite expensive. I went grocery shopping today because I can't afford to eat out every day and lunch and dinner. I bought some juice, chips, oranges, and yogurt. It was around 7 euros...which I guess isn't that bad.



The boat ride on the Seine was the best thing we've done since we've been here. It was so pretty. The tour guide was really nice and she's a student so she had some interesting facts to give us. There is an exact replica of the flame from the Statue of Liberty in NYC that the US donated to France to show that they are like besties or something. It was placed in the area where Princess Diana was killed and it has now become a memorial for her. We also passed under all the famous bridges in Paris. This one bridge that we went under has collapsed 13 times...something I wanted to know before we went under it. Very interesting....I have a bunch of pictures from the tour and a few more of the first day, I just don't know how to upload them on here yet. Once I have the time to figure it out I will upload them. After our tour we had the night free so we walk around....A LOT....my feet are so sore and covered with blisters so, awesome. We saw the Louvre and walked in le jardin des tuileries, which faces the Louvre. Today we learned about this thing called le grand axe and what it is is basically a line of monuments starting at L'Arche de la Defense to the louvre. It's really neat. A lot of the monuments have arches so you can see through all the the arches down the champs elysees.



Well it's 11 pm here and I've had a long day. I know that post was really long but if you made it through, congratulations.



Bonsoir et a bientot