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