Some of the pictures I've taken already-->
Bonjour!
I am in PARIS.
Just in case you didn't know.
The last few days have been so insane that I wasn't able to really take a breath, much less get on the computer and write, but I have a tiny bit of time right now, as I lie in bed in my new room in my host family's apartment in the 6th arrondissement of PARIS!
I will stop capitalizing every time I write Paris, I promise. It's just all very exciting.
My flight was okay... I couldn't sleep very well, so I spent most of it reading my book, a Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius and playing Chuzzle on my ipod touch, which is severely addicting. When I looked out the window, I could see a perfect view of the Big Dipper-- every few hours I would look out the window and the Big Dipper would be a little rotated. It was a very cool way to track the progress of the flight. I also got to see the sun rise over France, which was amazing. I took a picture of it from the window of my flight... what a tourist.
So, once I finally got on land-- I took a cab from the airport to the hotel, and became bffs with my cab driver, Paul. He told me je t'aime about 10 times, and taught me how the French kiss on both cheeks about double that. Lots of bissous and je t'aimes, but it was an experience, and a fun way to be welcomed to Paris. He was about 50 and balding.
I settled in to the hotel and met up with my friends Chase, Ian, and Alex who are also on the program with me. We wanted to fight the urge to nap, so we trekked literally across Paris. We walked all day, starting at the Place d'Italie, to the Louvre, to Notre Dame, to the Eiffel Tower, then to Ian's apartment in the 16th arrond., and then we took the metro back to the hotel at Place d'Italie. We walked from the 4th arrond to the 16th, which is slightly insane. It was great though- a beautiful day, I was wearing a skirt, and I was in PARIS. (I'll stop doing that.) By the end of the day, we were all wiped, though, and I had been up for more than 24 hours, which is more than I've ever stayed up. We were in bed by 9:30 (or 21:30) and it was wonderful.
Yesterday morning we met up with my roommate, Dorothy, and a bunch of kids that are here from Duke. My study abroad program, for those of you that don't know, is called Educo, and it stands for Emory, Duke, and Cornell (with the recent addition of Tulane-- the future Educot? Teduco? Educane?). There are seven Emory kids, 5 Tulane kids, 5 Cornell kids, and 37 Duke kids. Duke students, apparently, always generally go abroad Fall semester because they don't want to miss basketball season. Emory doesn't really have those priorities exactly.
Anyway. The kids I'm meeting are so great. There are about 7 guys total, and the rest are girls, so I'm thinking whichever guys are straight (maybe two of them) are going to have quite the semester.
Today we moved out of our hotel into our host family's apartment! Dorothy and I are living in the 6th arrondissement, which is, according to our host mom, Marie Madeleine, the best quarter, but the most expensive. There is a boulangerie (bread shop) down the street, and I plan on having a sandwich at least once a day. After some introductory meetings this morning, we walked down the street and found a boulangerie. I had the best sandwich I have ever had in my life. Just thinking about it right now is making me hungry. It was un baguette avec le thon et des crudites (tuna and veggies) and we went and sat in a park and ate our delicious sandwiches. It was so fantastically Parisian.
Of course I took a picture.
My host family is great. My host mom is very sweet and welcoming, and a self-proclaimed "cool mom." She is fine with us coming and going, and her only request is that we don't use the microwave at night because it's loud. I think if that is her only request, I'll be fine. I have two 15 year old twin host sisters, Maude and Juliette. I've only met Maude, because Juliette goes to boarding school in Montpelier and she will come home for a visit in November. Maude is nice but I think she needs to get used to having two more girls living in her apartment. She really liked the stuffed animal dog I brought (Yes I did. it looks like my dog, Hershey.) and showed me her favorite stuffed animal dog, and we decided that they would be friends, so I think we'll be fine.
We had a delicious dinner of potatos (pommes de terres) and eggs, with melon and salad and, of course, bread. My lactose-intolerance is going to be reeallllly interesting here. But Marie Madeleine seems flexible. I could also eat sandwiches nonstop, so it's not a huge problem. I wish we had recorded our meal.. it was laughable. Dorothy and I tried so hard to communicate, and while we could understand most of what they were saying, we could barely respond without correcting ourselves (or getting corrected by Marie Madeleine). If we could listen to that dinner in three months, I feel like that would be the true sign of our progress.
Overall, I am having a fantastic time. We live right next to a park, le Jardin de Luxembourg, and I can't wait to spend lots of time there. Tomorrow night's plan is to buy some bottles of wine and sit under the Eiffel Tower. I'm pretty excited.
Paris is wonderful. I'll gush more about it later!
A Bientot!
