Weekend in Review:

Bonjour tout le monde! It's been a little while since I last wrote, so, to appease my adoring fans (re: Mumsy), here's an update:

I survived my first week of classes! And it really isn't all that bad. I'm meeting new people every day and everyone seems really nice. My phonetics class is blowing my mind, and I love it. It's only one hour a day, every day until October 6th. Just 17 more classes to go, I think. The other class is ok too, and I have to prepare an oral presentation for next week. But enough with boring class/homework stuff.

I had a very relaxing, low-key weekend, and it was just what I wanted. Friday I bought some books for school with Emily, John, and Michelle. I needed a French-French dictionary to add to my growing collection of books and notebooks for classes. John, Em, and I had dinner in the foyer and it wasn't too bad--nowhere near as good as the previous night's spaghetti Bolognese. Note to self: remember to eat dinner at the foyer on Thursday nights. I wanted to get out and do something fun. Last Friday night a bunch of us went to a bar/dance club and it was really fun, but I wasn't in the mood to do that Friday night. I just wanted some fresh air. So Emily, John, two new friends from the foyer, and I took a walk to the Bastille and wandered down an animated side street. I thought it was so lively and hip/cool...turns out, we were told not to go there because it's where all the touristy bars are. Oh well, it was fun to see the street bustling on a Friday night! We didn't go into any, instead opting for a restaurant called Paradis des Fruits. There are a lot of smoothies and things with fruit, so naturally, I had the unhealthiest, most dessert-like thing on the menu. It was called an "Ivoire Ivoire" and had: vanilla ice cream, coconut ice cream, coconuts, hot fudge, bananas, nuts, and whipped cream. UNBELIEVABLE. I had some help from my friends in finishing it. And after, I wanted a nutella crepe so I literally had to dig out 3 euros all in coins, most in 20 centime pieces. It was my most desperate moment yet--but man, was that a good crepe. :) We walked around and came back to the foyer but I was so tired so I just went right to bed.

Saturday:

Big shopping day! Michelle and I tore apart Les Halles, as well as Rue de Rivoli and Boulevard Faubourg- Saint Antoine. My jeans that used to fit me are mysteriously too big now so I had to buy some more pairs...along with some other things, too. Michelle and I just hung out for the rest of the evening and had a picnic in my room of pizza, bread and wine. There's a chain of grocery stores here that ONLY sell frozen food. It's called Picard and it's magical! Haha. We got our pizza there. And we bought a bottle of Cote-du-Rhone rose wine. It was a splurge at 5 euros. A lot of the wine in the grocery stores is 2-3 euros. I thought I was going to get carded when we bought it! Michelle skyped with Sam from Goucher and I talked to him too, and John came into my room and talked too. Oh, the wonders of internet! It was fun to have a little picnic on my floor, with not-quite-undercooked pizza and wine in cheap plastic "flutes." A classy evening, to say the least. Before I went to bed I got to skype with Ilana, Sam H., Amy, Sari, Quinn, Brett and Keith. It was so great! I felt like I was right there in the apartment with them. It made me miss school more, but I've come to terms with the fact that I can simultaneously miss Goucher and enjoy myself in Paris. Now if I can just bring all my friends HERE...

And today: Michelle took my phone home by accident so I've been phoneless, which is curiously freeing. I went to the Luxembourg Gardens to read my book. It's a collection of short stories by Jay McInerney (Bright Lights, Big City). It's all in French and I ahve to read it for my internship. I wanted to stay in the garden logner but it was a bit cold for me and it looked like it might rain, so I left. I wanted to get a lot of reading done today since I think I have to finish the book by the end of the month and I think taking time to look up words in the dictionary will make it go slower, but I also didn't want the weekend to end without my having done anything cultural. So I took an impromptu trip to the Eiffel Tower! I've wanted to go ever since i've been here. I took the metro to a stop I've never been to in an arrondissement I've never been in, and walked. Luckily, I had my camera so I asked some nice people to take my photo with it. It's incredible in person. I don't have the money to go up it, and I didn't want to go by myself, anyway, but it was really cool to see it so up close. I'll have to go back another time. :) The whole time, I was thinking, THIS IS PARIS. The Eiffel Tower kind of clinches it for me. Im off to do mroe reading now, but will check in again soon. A plus!

Bisous