Good night!

I had dinner with my host family, and it was lovely. Afterward, I wound up talking to my host dad about the differences between holidays in our countries. We both thought it was ridiculous that they tried to make Halloween happen here.

Then, Elise and I watched Wallace and Gromit! We watched the trousers episode and the one with Shaun the sheep. It was adorable.

When we finished, she said, "Ben, bon, je te souhaite une bonne nuit parce que je dois aller à l'école demain." Trop adorable. She's like a little person.

I'm going to finish watching the presidential debate, finish typing out my schedule, and I could quite easily go to sleep RIGHT NOW. I just might.

Bonne nuit!

What a weekend.

I saw around 5 castles. I had a night of a fondue dinner, which was spent mostly playing games with our associate director's 9 and a half year old son, François.

I am still tired from running around. Also, I had more metro problems today. There was an accident between Charles de Gaulle-Etoile and Denfert-Rochereau (I had just missed the train and had waited 10 minutes to hear the announcement that there had been an accident. I'm glad that I hadn't gotten on that train). It took me an hour and a half to walk to the closest metro station not on the line 6 and get to Reid Hall to celebrate Rosh Hashanah. It was really cute and nice. Alix put it all together, and I could tell she was a little stressed out but really happy for having planned everything out.

We had apples and honey for a sweet new year. Then, I ran to the metro to get all the way up to Porte de Clignancourt to register for my Spanish class. They asked me if I was an Erasmus student, and I still don't know if I will be treated like those other international students. In any case, I signed up like a regular old Sorbonne student, which apparently means that I've got one big general class and FOUR other sessions per week. Just for my Spanish class! I'm not sure if that's right, so I'm going to send an e-mail to P. Bloom. Hopefully he'll know what to do. Also, he likes me, so he'll call the Sorbonne for me to sort things out.

I wound up missing my first class of France and Europe, but I know a girl in the class. Hopefully, it won't be a problem that I missed class to sign up for my Spanish class. I e-mailed the teacher last night. I never know what French teachers want to hear. Well, except for nothing, which is why it's always weird to send apologetic e-mails for missing class.

In any case, my first real live class is tomorrow, and that's just Phonetics. It's basically a continuation of our orientation session of learning how to pronounce words properly. I find it amusing to think of the people that didn't wind up taking the course. You can always use practice! I know I don't think that I'm above wanting to sound like a French person. I'm definitely not even close.

Today:
- Nap
- E-mail P.B.
- Get pictures taken in the metro for my carte de séjour
- Buy a guitar

Seriously dude, just have a freakin' gaufre and shut up.

I should hang out with Rachel more.

I COMPLETELY forgot to pack for our field trip tomorrow. We're staying overnight at Chateau de la Loire in a hotel, and we're exploring castles and eating fondue and hanging out and riding biclettes and it's going to be adorable.

But mainly I need sleep and I hope you're all doing well. I hope I don't forget to pack anything!

Doing laundry is always a good plan.

It seems that the dryer likes me today!

Also, I FINALLY bought pants here! I was in dire need of new pants. I bought them at the Monoprix, which vaguely ressembles a Target. Some are just supermarkets, some are supermarkets + clothing stores, some are really small essentials markets. In any case, I went to the one on Avenue des Champs-Elysees, which is basically 42nd Street but a lot more French. There's a movie theatre every couple buildings, car dealerships, gorgeous patisseries, and of course, McDonald's (or "Mack-doe", as they call it here). There's also a place called "Quick" which says, in English, "Fast hamburger restaurant".

I am never at a loss for amusing signs in English here. Yesterday, I saw a sign that said, "Alcool and stranger wine". I'm pretty sure they meant to translate it as "Alcohol and foreign wine".

I went to frisbee practice again this week. It's only Mondays and Tuesdays for now, while the hard-core players practice on Thursdays. Wednesdays are for super-beginners. I love how the French say "Ultimate". They call the sport "l'Ultimate", which is pronounced "lool-tee-MAYT". I made new friends: Emma (the Canadienne), Kevin (the Francais), Brilleu (which may or may not be how to spell his name), Giovane (easily Spanish or Italian), Kristin (the Amherst player), Jeff (the kid from GWU who's too competitive for my taste) Emery (the American who was quite taken with me at indoor practice), and Inga.

When I tell my Smithie friends about the people I'm meeting at ultimate, they get jealous because they haven't found any real groups that they feel a part of. That's what I love about ultimate frisbee: it's pretty much the same feeling everywhere. Spirit of the game is super important, everyone is ALWAYS late, but everyone works really hard for the team.


In other news, my blisters having blisters has gotten worse, and now my blisters' blisters have blisters. I could hardly walk today. We went to the Musée Carnavalet, which was all about the history of France and its people. It was really interesting, but I found it a little dry. It felt like a history lesson that I'd already had, but the building was stunning, as usual.

Afterward, Alix, Hannah, Rachel, and I went to a cute Israeli restaurant. They got bagels, and I got a mini veggie pizza with hot chocolate. SO GOOD. Alix and Hannah decided that we'd have to celebrate Rosh Hoshannah, so we went next door to check out the wine selection. No Manuschevitz, but there WAS Kedem! Woot!

We decided to walk home. Also a poor plan for my poor feet.



We walked along the yellow line 1. We were on the right, at stop Saint-Paul, and I had to walk all the way to the end, and then further along the blue line past Charles de Gaulle to Victor Hugo. It took about an hour, but it was a nice walk. I'm just worried about walking tomorrow, since my feet really are killing me. I may take a bath tonight. Mm, that sounds nice.


Tomorrow, we have our last official meeting of our orientation program. Mme Toumi (or just "Toumi" among us, pronounced "Too-mee") has us going on another jeu de piste (scavenger hunt) and will meet up with us afterward at the bar called "Deux Moulins", where Amelie went to in the movie Amelie! She also inferred to the fact that she may be sitting there drinking a bit while she waits for us to arrive.


On Saturday, we leave at 7:30 a.m. from Reid Hall to go to Chateau de la Loire. It'll take about 2 hours to get there. We're staying overnight, and we have lots of fun activities. Our first night there, we're having a fondue night for dinner.


Alright, I'm going to check on my laundry, take a bath, plan our course for tomorrow's scavenger hunt, and go to sleep! Good night, world!

News brief!

- I went to find a ukulele or a guitar today. I had no luck in finding one within my price range, but my host dad is going to recommend a place for me tomorrow when he passes by music stores looking for something for Elise's cello.

- There really is no ABCDEFG in the music here! I asked the music store guy how a ukulele was tuned, and he said it in doremifasollatido speak. They don't assign letters to notes; only do-re-mi's!

- I COMPLETELY forgot about frisbee practice today until my host mom was serving dinner and told me to eat up because I'd be playing sport tonight. Oh lordy.

- Indoor was AWESOME. There were 8 of us, half-American, half-French. The old dude leading it, Emery, was super-cool and very taken with me. At the end of practice, he told me that I was a lot of fun to play with and he enjoyed having me. I met a kid named Jeff who goes to GWU and came to France to see his French lover, a kid named Brilleu? who is a lawyer, and I saw my Irish boy again WHO TOLD ME THAT THERE IS A UKULELE NIGHT AT A PUB SOMEWHERE!!! I think I am in love.

- My BLISTERS have blisters.

- I am so glad I found frisbee here.

REMINDER tomorrow the RER B may be closed because of strikes, so I have to find a new way to go to practice! It's the 3-hour practice which is sure to kick my ass, and my host mom bought me a sandwich in preparation for it. So cute!

Paris is so alive!

And yet I am here, doing nothing. It feels kind of nice to be home and just chilling, but I really would've preferred going to the Marais tonight. I was all ready to go, when I checked with my friend to see what time we'd meet up, and she said that she didn't feel like going anymore.

It would've been SO much better if I could've gotten out of the house. After 2 hours of half-hearted deliberation, I knew I wouldn't go out alone. Bad idea to go out alone, obviously, but I feel like it would've been a much better night if I had.

For now, I'm watching Wall-E and contemplating a gouter (snack). Which is also nice. However, I'm still all spiffed up and nowhere to go. I'm going to sleep in my shirt and skirt out of spite.

Today was nice otherwise. I woke up at around noon and texted Alix, since we were supposed to go to a "puce" (literally translates to "flea" and means "flea market"). She called me, all excited, and told me that I should feel left out because she was having so much fun.

I wound up going out with Hannah, Rachel H., and Maddie R. We started at a puce in the 13eme arrondissement, around Chinatown. They bought some jewelry, and I kept my eyes peeled for a really old guitar. No such luck.

Then, we walked to the Place d'Italie metro stop to head over to Angelina. It is a gorgeous patisserie with the world's best hot chocolate. I wound up getting a chocolate eclair type thing and a hot chocolate. Mmmm.

We walked around the Tuileries for awhile and enjoyed the nice weather. We whistled at attractive people from the park and tried to make plans for later.

Unfortunately, everyone was kind of beat. I'm always ready to party, but it seems like people have been more and more worn out lately.

Hopefully I can get something together for tomorrow. Maybe we can all get together to go to Bar Dix again (we never made it into Chez Georges last night).

Alright, I'm going to fix myself up a gouter and hit the hay! Bah hah ha.

Good night, world!

Aw! I just heard my host parents kiss outside my door.

Right so last night's adventures were sort of a bust again. I kind of don't like that we always wind up getting lost and not knowing where to go. And/or people don't like our options for bars because they're not Paris chic enough. Whatever, you guys.

Tonight, we're going to Chez George. Really. It's going to be hilarious.

Last night, we went to an Indian restaurant. It was at Place Brady, which was this super-tiny block FILLED with Indian restaurants. Outside of each one, there was a guy waiting outside, waiting to run his spiel on innocent tourists. Each one was "the best deal" with everything that you could possibly want, and if you didn't like something, you would get it for free. We stopped at the second restaurant and had a whole lot of food for a reasonable amount of euros. There were seven of us altogether, and we talked about anything and everything. It was really nice.

But then, we wound up getting super-lost while trying to find the Marais, and so we all kind of revealed our life stories as we were walking around. Which was nice, but not what I was looking for. Still nice, though.

However that means that I'm still looking forward to mad partying tonight. I am quite excited.


Dinner now with the parents and dad's sister (Elise is at her friend's house for the weekend). And then GETTING MY PARTY ON! WHOO!

Bonne soirée, mes amis!

C'est la fête!!!!

What what!!!!

So after the craziest night ever of very little sleep, I got to school to bang out my last French History and last Oral Communication classes. I was really worried that I was going to have to peace out early to go to the Sorbonne for a placement test for Spanish. Luckily, I talked to our director and he was all, Oh don't worry about it, we're American universities, we just walk in like we own the place and you can take absolutely any course you want.

After classes, a few of us went to get sushi. Which was SO NICE.

Also, Alix commented that I have a Mona Lisa-esque beauty. In my sleepy stupor, I was quite taken with her comment.

We got back to take our history test, which was actually harder than I thought it would be, in that I actually had to think to respond to the questions. I put on my MP3 player while I was doing the test, because I kept zoning out. "Don't Stop Believing" pushed me through the last leg of the test, which was helpful.


And now tonight, we're going to get Indian food in the 10eme arrondissement, and then prendre un verre ensemble. I am QUITE excited! I haven't really fêtéd since I've been here.

Also also, French and English are really mixing in my brain and speaking is flat out HARD. I feel bad for my family, but I still get self-conscious when I get the "Huh?" face from the second I start talking. Being sleepy and punchy is helping because I cancel out their confusion with my enthusiasm. It worked today!


Right so shower, write down directions, figure out outfit, PARTY TIMEEEEEE OH I love the weekend!

I promised I'd do my homework right after I updated, but then I started procrastinating updating the blog!

Right so it's been crazy. I've been catching up on sleep any spare moment I could grab, since I was exhausted after frisbee practice on Tuesday. I'm still stretching whenever I get up from sitting down, and I still forget that my legs can't do full ranges of motion on things like stairs.

Today was quite nice. Aside from thinking it was Friday all morning, classes were alright. I had my last France Contemporaine with hot lady teacher and Phonetics (though I'm going to continue taking it next semester). Afterward, since I didn't want to see the informational session on internships, Abby, Hannah, Rachel, and I went shopping! First, we went to Bagels and Brownies (I shit you not) to get... well, I did get a bagel and a brownie! I got the "San Francisco", I think, which was swiss cheese, tomatoes, avocadoes, and lettuce. Mmmm.

We stopped at this chic boutique, and then moseyed our way over to the 3 for 10 euro scarf place that Rachel knew. Abby and I looked at scarves, but we only wanted one each. A French woman came over to the rack and asked if we spoke French. We said yes, and she told us that if we bought 3, if would be cheaper. I told her that we knew, but that we only wanted one scarf each. Abby and I both assumed that she just meant that we should find someone to get a third scarf, but she picked out a brown one that she liked. She checked it out for a couple seconds to make sure that was the one she wanted, and then she decidedly gestured for us to hand over our scarves.

She went up to the register and bought the three scarves. Abby and I hung back, since we wanted to be discreet. The woman finished her purchase and took us to the corner of the store. She gave us the scarves, and we gave her the money. Unfortunately, I didn't have the change for 3.50, so I gave her 4.00. She asked if I had the change, and I said no, but that it wasn't important. She replied, shocked, that it was important! We had made a good deal! So she scrounged in her change purse for the 50 centimes and handed them over. It was so sweet of her.

Then we went to H&M. Again. I swear, H&M has at least of my allotted lunch money for two months right now. I bought 2 cute shirts and stockings that I desperately needed.

Things that I still need to buy:
- lotion
- heels
- boots
- pants
- tissues
- ukulele

Afterward, I came home to rest for a bit. I sent out some mail that I'd been meaning to send when I walked the wrong way down the street and found a post office. It was so nice out this afternoon! I came into the apartment, and the woman who does the ironing was there. I said hi, and we talked for a little bit. She told me that she'd been working for the family for 13 years and had done all the cleaning before. Now, she just does the ironing once a week. She is super-duper sweet and very smiley. However, I do not know her name. I do know that her daughter's name is Myriam, though.

Then, I left to meet Hannah at Reid Hall to go out with her boy. We waited for awhile, and the boy was nowhere to be found. For consolation, we walked to get a waffle in our new super kawaii outfits. We ordered our waffles at a little stand, 2 waffles with Nutella. The man behind the stand responded in English to our accented French and asked where we were from. When I said the United States, he said, "Oh? Boston? Chicago?" I told him New York, and he said that he loved New York. Multiple times. He said that the girls there are very pretty. I said that I agreed. He pretty much just kept repeating that he loved New York, and while he was putting the Nutella on my waffle, he kept putting more on and asking me if I wanted more. I guess there's only so much that a Waffle Man can do to impress a girl.

After being super paranoid about eating our warm drippy chocolatey hazelnutty waffles on the street, we walked back to Reid Hall to see if the boy grew a pair. He did not. Since I had time before I had to get back for dinner, we walked to a nearby church, just for kicks. It was really pretty.

Side note: It is hard to believe that that was the first church I've been inside since I've been here. They're on like every corner, and I haven't even been inside the famous ones! I haven't even been in a museum, either. This must be remedied asap. It should happen this weekend, since it's the journées de patrimoine, which basically means that everything that's never open is open this weekend, for one time each year. Crazy long lines, but I hope we find good things to do.


I just had dinner with Elise and my host mom, since host dad was at work late. We had soup and salad, and then for cheese, we had Saint Marcelin, chèvre, conté, and Camembert, which my host mom didn't seem to fond of, since it's kind of dull. I agree.

We spent most of the dinner singing High School Musical songs that Elise knew (apparently, they only dub the dialogue in musicals, and the songs stay in English, but with French subtitles). We also played those hand clapping games, and she taught me a lot of funny songs that she knew. She is a hoot.



And now, I should probably get on the homework situation. I have to read about 20 pages of a Sarkozy address, and I have to study for my big ol' history test tomorrow. Afterward, dinner = Indian food in the 10ème arrondissement! Woot!

Holy Jesus.

I JUST got back from frisbee practice.

That's right. It is MIDNIGHT.

IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD OMG I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS YEAR!



I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE TO START.


THE BEGINNING. Okay. So I got back from the park with Hannah and Aarin at around 6:00. I got dressed, talked to my mom, got ready, and left an hour later. Before I left, I filled two water bottles, packed an apple, ate two little Mirabelles, and let my host mom coax me into bringing a sandwich that I'm pretty sure she bought for her real daughter. I got to practice EXACTLY at 8:30, when it started. I threw around with Hubert, the guy that I met yesterday. We ran SO GODDAMN MUCH. We ran around the track for the first 20 minutes, stretched, and then did running drills for the next half hour. Then, throwing practice with pairs of newbies/oldbies. I threw with a certain Mr. Benoit, who was surfer dude-esque and helped me with my throws. Then, we split off into groups based on skill level. I went into the newbie pile, since I didn't know where I fit. I met Marie, who lives by Gare du Nord like everyone else, Geraldine, Kellie, Lindsey, and KRISTIN???? Who played with Amherst??? What are the fucking odds of that??? And she said there are even more Amherst folk on the team, too!

That's what else. There WERE about 50 of us. We OWNED the stadium. I have never seen so many people on one team. It was definitely a lot more competitive than Lunadisc, but I assumed that from the start.

After throwing around, we broke into teams to scrimmage. At this point, I felt like I had bowling balls in my calves, which, if I jumped for the disc, held me flat down on the ground. Blisters were inevitably forming in my new cleats, my face was as red as a beet, and I was struggling to understand how to say certain terms in French.

Tomas helped me out a lot. I think he's some sort of captain, because he had a way of making his presence apparent. When I told him that I was studying here for the year, he said, "Oh, sweet!" Which is adorable, coming from a French person.

Anyway, we finished when the stadium lights turned off, which was at about 11:00. Oh! And I made a completed pass! Which led to a score! I called "poached" at the Australian guy when my girl wasn't marking me (do you know how hot an Australian accent is in French? I'm pretty sure it's a universally hot accent).

I left with this kid Vin (Vain? All I know is it's that horrible EUGHN sound that them French people make) and a couple others to walk to the RER station. When I switched trains, I ravenously took out my sandwich and chugged down both bottles of water. I can't believe that I hadn't eaten since noon! That's friggin CRAZY.

And now, I have dinner waiting on the stove, a bath that's calling my name as loud as the dickens, and I'm so afraid to get up for fear that my legs will just SEIZE. I nearly cried in pain while going down the stairs to the metro. I heard the horrible ring of the train about to leave, and I jumped on just before the doors closed. I must have looked such a mess, but it felt SO good to sit down. The two blocks from my metro station were pure torture. I'm glad I didn't decide to take the metro stop further from the apartment.

OH! I figured out what was wrong with my computer charger!!! It was the converter!! I never NEEDED the converter! I just needed the adapter, but I didn't know that my plug fit in it! YAHOOOOOOO ENDLESS COMPUTER PARTY TIME!!!!

So I'll be up for at least the next hour for shower, dinner, and homework, in that order. Bonne nuit, mes amis!


P.S. A monsieur G.T. Meliado has yet to make his presence on this blog. He should get on it ASAP.

J'ai toujours besoin d'une sieste.

Bonjour, tout le monde! I am at Reid hall, waiting for our excursion to the Senate.

Whoaz! A girl named Sarah just came into the computer room. She just said that she was a student that studied here two years ago, and now she's working as an English teacher here! AND she had the same family that I have now! Exciting!

So my weekend was WICKED awesome. Friday, I just chilled.. I think. The days are all kind of mushing together. That was the night we saw A bout de souffle. Then Saturday, I chilled most of the day, until nighttime when Rebecca, Hannah, Abby, and I went out to dinner. I had a thin crepe filled with cheese, mushrooms, and tomatoes. It was like a pizza. Friggin awesome.

Afterward, we went to see the Eiffel Tower. Hannah NEEDED a street waffle, and I wound up getting a chocolate ice cream cone. We sat by the Seine to wait for the Eiffel Tower to do the sparkle shiny show. It was astonishing, as usual. While it was sparkling, we walked under it to see what it looked like from underneath. I felt like I could get an epileptic seizure from looking at the light patterns zoom by all around us.

Then, we stayed to watch four breakdancers do their thing. They were pretty awesome.

Sunday, we tried to visit Versailles. It took two hours to get there, whereas it would've taken a half hour, if we had taken the right trains. Paris transportation is still a mystery to me. Then, when we tried to get into the castle, we saw that there was a long line just to get in. We wound up just picnicking outside of the castle and people-watching, which was also very nice.

We didn't get to go into the gardens by the castle either, since we had to pay to get in (though we later found out that there are free entrances all around). Instead, we walked to a nearby park. It was GORGEOUS. We had a photo shoot and took a sieste on the grass.


I had my first ultimate experience, which was crazy. It took about an hour to get to the practice space, and when I got there, there were only two other guys there. They said that their coach wasn't there yet, so they weren't sure what to do. Luckily, I was the only one who brought a disc, so we threw around for awhile and ran some drills. I even taught them a go-to drill that they didn't know! Tonight, I think Aarin is going to come with me to practice. This is the real deal. Hubert said that there'd be about 50 of us tonight. I'm kind of nervous, since practice starts at 8:30, and I eat at 8. I feel bad about leaving my family hanging, but hopefully they'll understand.

I'm going to retire for a couple minutes in these wonderful chairs and take a quick nap before heading out for a tour of the Senate. J'espère que tout va bien, mes amis!


OH and I got mail today and that makes me really happy, so it should keep happening, okay?

I am lazy, so you get a picture post!

I've got pictures of the mosque and Sorbonne from Thursday, and pictures from yesterday. I tagged along with Zoe and Rebecca to this museum/garden/menagerie. They were just zipping through things, and I think they got impatient when I took about 100 pictures of the gorgeous gardens.

Last night, Abby, Hannah, Rachel, and I went to see "A bout de souffle" at the Entrepot theatre. It was really neat and a super French experience. It was very satisfying.

Less satisfying was our running around afterward trying to find a cafe. We didn't know what time the metro closed on Fridays, so we parted ways soon after.

Also, the Pope is in town, so traffic and transportation has been crazy. I considered going to see him speak, but I wasn't really interested. Especially with all of the foules (crowds) and crazyness.


Without further ado, pictures!!

These are from the mosquée:



The library










The Sorbonne courtyard. They're doing renovations until 2010, but it's still an astounding building.



And here are the pictures from the garden:




















Giant geode from Brazil!


Okay, I am going to take a nap and then see what exciting things I can do today. This morning, my host mom took me to market (like a farmer's market) to buy fruits and vegetables. There was even an indoors market for cheese, cream, and meat. The butchery was crazy. I've never seen so much meat in my life. There was a little patisserie with little cookies and cakes decorated with sparkles of gold. It was really neat.

AND we bought avocados. She cut them up and added lemon juice and tomatoes to eat with lunch. Mmmm.

Also, there's a seperate store for frozen goods. It's all frozen! It's really neat.

A plus, mes amis!

Damn! I closed my window at just the right time!

I left my room to get my clothes from the dryer, talked to Elise for a little bit, and came back to my room. I looked out the window, and it was dark. I figured it was just because it was nighttime, but the second I closed my window and drapes, I heard rain falling! Which is good, because it's been hella hot here. Hopefully, that'll cool it off some.

I woke up this morning with just enough time to get to school on time. Classes were good. Then, Hannah, Rachel, Abby, and I tried this place called "Wokbar". It was super classy, in the fast food kind of way. They had Thai food, Italian food, and Vegetarian food. I got penne with pesto. Delicieux!

We ate in the jardin du Luxembourg, and then hauled ass out of there to make it on time to a mosque in the 5ème arrondissement, where we met up with the rest of our Smithies. We had a tour guide explain that it was made in the 1920's with over 400 artists and architects. There were fountains in the garden and beautiful mosaics made by hand. I'll put up pictures tonight.

We stopped at a tea place nearby. We had minty honey tea, and it was scrumptiously delicious. I got some baklava, which was really really good too. I wound up getting pretty sticky, though. Ew.

Afterward, we walked to the Sorbonne. It is super-old and really pretty. I'm excited to start classes there. After that, we walked near the bridge over to Ile de la Cité, and we were going to stop at a restaurant. Abby and I peaced out because we were beat and were not hungry. I came home, said hi to our housekeeper, and slept until just a little while ago.



Now, I'm watching Duck Soup and waiting for dinner. My host mom has parent-teacher conferences again for her students, so she won't be home until really late. But she made a quiche lorraine last night, so we'll heat that up and eat it tonight with some salad and hopefully some Couronnier cheese. It's my favorite so far!

I think I'm going to bang out my homework before dinner. For real this time. A plus tard!

Buvons un coup, ma serpette est perdue...

My adventure for today consisted of walking with Abby and Hannah to Ile de la Cité, asking a pretty lady where Sainte Chappelle was, and having caramel cream and tiramisu flavored gelato.

Also, we saw a fountain.



Yup, that's my dinosaur shirt. ALTHOUGH, (much to my mother's joy, I'm sure) I can't find my DON'T BITE YOUR FRIENDS vest. THAT'S RIGHT KATHRYN! I had a vest from Yo Gabba Gabba that said "Don't bite your friends". I am quite sad. Especially since I lost my hat, too. I'm going to check with Reid Hall to see it it's hiding there.



I'm kind of in love with the fact that all I have for homework is to write a tongue-twister and memorize a song. Can this never end?

Comme ils sont discrets, les Français!

I came home from school at around quarter to 4. I was home for about 10 minutes when two people came in to repair something. I think that's why Catherine, my host mother, asked me when I'd be home.

Our clock is now sounding the hour of 10:00. It is 9:23. I love this clock.

After checking my e-mails and taking a short nap, I returned to school for a meeting with my advisor concerning my classes for the first semester. At Reid Hall (classes with just Smith students and then some with other students studying abroad), I've got Literary Methodology, French Phonetics, and the European Union. At the Sorbonne, it's Spanish and French Romanticism Art History.

I came back after that and got some homework done. When Elise and Dominique came back, I asked them what the flowers (des roses, des tourne-sols) in the kitchen were from. Dominique told me straight that it was Catherine's birthday. He saw the "Ka-WHAT?" look on my face, and he said something like, "C'est comme ça, ouais". The impression I got was that the French don't really celebrate all-out and prefer to be more discreet. I still felt like crap that I hadn't remembered during one of our first dinners when Elise mentioned her birthday.

I hadn't seen her all day, so I felt better, having not said anything to her. I made her a cute little card. When she came home, I got a knock on my door from Elise, saying that we were going to give her mom gifts. I was glad that I had made her a card. Elise hid around the corner with me and said, "Mama, today is a special day, isn't it? Then you should enjoy it!" Elise had made her a beautiful card and gave her a huge book on Spain that she said the bookseller recommended. From her dad, roses and a brooch of a fancy red cat.

We just finished dinner, which wasn't much, since Catherine got back late from teaching. If we had eaten earlier, I would've gone with a group of girls going to see a Fellini film. I'm not upset to not go, though. I think I could pretty easily go to sleep now. Actually, I think I'll do my laundry, finish my reading, have a little piece of CREME BRULEE FILLED CHOCOLATE!!!! and then go to sleep. Also, I'm watching the original Parent Trap. I love youtube.

Things about my family that I don't want to forget, lest they never reveal them again:
- Dominique and Catherine are about the same age as my parents
- Dominique has 5 brothers and one sister
- Catherine has 1 brother and 1 sister
- Elise has 17 cousins, all but one of whom are older than her

I might also write some postcards. If you want one, let me know! But chances are yours are already on their way.

Bonne soirée à tous!

I hope that real classes never start so I can keep having fun at nighttime.

I saw the Eiffel Tower do its sparkly shiny show on my way home on the metro! Also, I was lazy and took the transfer to a closer stop so I didn't have to walk as far.

Hannah and I saw a thriller movie about this chick with "multiple personality disorder", but of course they were just dead people channelling through her. It was fun since we were the only ones in the theatre, so we kept poking fun at it. Also, it was in English, since it was an Irish movie, which was easy and relaxing for us.

Development: I am learning how to eat like a French person with my knife in my right hand and my fork in my left. J'arrive.

I really had something to update about, but now I can't remember what it was! It is most definitely sleeptime.

Oh! That's what it was! I much prefer going to sleep late at night on a school night if it means that I've done fun things. Also, this whole month of 9:00 to 5:00 courses only equals 2 credits. Definitely not important enough to risk not seeing enough of Paris. I can't wait to see what adventures I run across tomorrow!

Update!

It is freezing in my room!





Today:
Had history class in the morning, then oral communication class. Lunch was excellent! I had a "tarte", which was really a quiche, made of goat cheese and spinach. We also found a gelato place with THE best chocolate-type gelato I've ever had. It was called something like "inimitabile", which I'm guessing means "inimitable" in Italian.

Observations:
- It's hard to speak Italian with a French accent.
- French is taking a toll on my English spelling. I had to spell "italien" thrice before I settled on "Italian".
- I much prefer hanging out after class and walking around with Abby and Hannah to coming home and taking a nap. Even though I just took a nap now. It was after funtimes!
- I'm trying really hard to accept the fact that people are going to know that I'm American. Or at least that I speak English. Usually, I'm trying really hard! I think our phonetics class will help with my pronunciation. *fingers crossed*
- I don't smell anything for dinner. I hope it is soon.


Dinner last night consisted of a really good salad with tomatoes and olives in it (I ate one! Though it only proved my previous stance: olives are yucky), hard-boiled eggs, cold tuna, and more cheese! This time, more Brie, the thing that looks like Swiss but isn't, and something named after a Saint. I learned how to cut cheese (ha ha) yesterday, since I made a faux pas when first trying to cut it. There's an actual method to cutting delicious hunks of cheese!

My goals for tonight:
- Read up on French and American politics (it's ALL the French talk about!)
- Re-read all of my notes from school about French things to say.
- Go to movies with Abby and Hannah


Dinner time soon, but Skype with mom first! Bisous!

La procrastination.

I have done abolutely everything that was assigned to me, except for this little bitty 2-3 page paper. I can do it! I know exactly what I want to write. I'm just... boycotting the French language for awhile. It feels good to just NOT think in French. It hurts my brain.

I promised a picture post! Here it is!


Sunrise in London! That's the plane's wing, from my seat.



There was a little map on my airport TV! It told us our altitude and distance from our arrival destination. This is why I didn't sleep for the last 2 hours of the flight.



That's the first dog I saw upon my arrival in Paris, from the bus. C'est Maggie! I miss her so.



We're literally a five minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe.



This is Reid Hall. This is where I have my Smithie classes. They have a garden. It is pretty. And OLD.



Baguette for lunch! We eat outside in the Smith garden area when it's nice out.



Yes, that would be the Eiffel Tower. From my seat on the metro.

I forgot to tell you! I saw the Eiffel Tower do its Sparkle Show (I'm sure it's not called that) last night on my way home from restaurant times! The whole tower lights up with sparkly lights for a couple minutes on the hour. And then, I saw it completely dark. It was weird that it shut off that early. This is sort of what it looks like!


Not the same without the sparkly part, though.


FUN FACT: I answered a question in my history class on Friday. It was in reference to The Dark Knight. By which I mean, "The French Revolution". We were talking about why the French would call revolutions "le Grand Soir", or "the big night". People were confused, because they thought that night=darkness, and why wouldn't it be "the big morning" or something?

I didn't know how to say "the night is darkest just before the dawn", but you know I tried. I can't believe that no one else got that reference in the class.

It's almost dinner time! I'm going to bang out an essay in the next 15 minutes.


Dinner time now! Essay later!

Holy merde.

Remember that time that I had metro troubles this afternoon?

DOES NOT COMPARE with metro troubles this evening.


I was already running late for meeting up with Rebecca, Rachel, Hannah, and Abby when I ran to the metro station. I made it to the metro station, but I JUST missed the train. I waited another 5 minutes for the next one and felt like crap because I was already late. I got onto the metro and waited for my stop. We were only 3 stops into the trip, when the lights went off completely.

We halted to a complete stop. The lights came back on.

After a couple minutes of waiting without moving, the conductor came on the speakers. What I caught in my shock was that someone had been in front of the train and they were under the impression that he was paralyzed. I called Hannah and told her what I had heard, including that they were waiting for the "papers" to arrive (apparently, he had said "pompiers" and not "papiers". I always thought that "pompiers" were firefighters, but I guess they deal with those things, too).

I was stuck on the metro for 45 minutes. 45 minutes of silence on my part, because I didn't really want to talk to anyone. I was pretty shaken, especially compared to everyone else, who were laughing and talking since the initial announcement. There was hardly any remorse. I wanted to reach out to someone who felt equally shaken, but it seemed that everyone was just like "yeah, whatever, this happens all the time". Which I guess it does happen with some frequency here.

On the plus side, we started moving again finally, and I got to meet up with my friends in the 6eme arrondissement at Chai de l'Abbaye. Rachel and Rebecca were already ready to hit the road after having had their beverages. I ordered a hot chocolate with Bailey's (c'mon, I totes deserved it). I sat and talked with Hannah and Abby. Mostly about the "diabeetus" guy. It was hilarious. It was really nice to speak in English with them after struggling in French all day.

We headed out in our separate directions. We're becoming professional French kissers (oh lalalala!). We do the "biz" (the double cheek kiss) when we leave now. We almost look French! It is neat.

I got on the metro until Montparnasse. I got off and had to get all the way to the other end of the station to get my train. They have those moving walkways like at the airport. I had to wade through 6 guys sitting on the moving armrest. One had a guitar, and all the rest were just singing "Svweeeeet Hooooooome Ahhhlaaawwwbaaahhhmuhhhhh!" It was hilarious. I laughed out loud. Mostly alcohol-induced, I imagine. But hilarious nonetheless. I probably would've done the same laugh even if I didn't have an ounce of Bailey's in my system.



Okay. I am washed. Pajamas, then BED. Bonne nuit!

Le festin est sur mon chemin.

Attention! New banner! I made it! It is not very good. I wish I knew more HTML.

The first picture is from my host sister. She made it for me. It says "Bienvenue", which means "Welcome".


This weekend has been awesome. Yesterday, for Abby's birthday, Hannah and I went over to her host mother's apartment to have dinner with her and fêter (celebrate). It was wonderful. We drank champagne and talked about everything, and it was absolutely adorable. Afterward, we walked to the cinéma next to Hannah's apartment and saw "Metropolis". It was very interesting. Also, trippy. I can't even explain it. I don't have the willpower. But it was fun to watch and very neat to experience my first film in France being silent and from Germany.

I will post pictures. My next post will be all pictures, I think.


Today, Abby, Hannah, Rachel, Rebecca, and I walked from Reid Hall to Ile St Louis and all around. It was gorgeous. I just had some problems getting to Reid because the metro stopped before my stop. There was some problem at the Montparnasse stop, so I had to take an hour trip through 3 lines. It was crazy. I was quite impressed at my finesse and ability to not get lost!

We strolled around looking for this really good ice cream place called "Bertillon", but they had an ENORMOUS line. We went to the one next to it. I had nougat ice cream. SO GOOD.

And now I'm off to find a club in this town! Good night, world!

Bonne soirée!

And what a bonne soirée it was! I had a long day, involving tiramisu, listening to our director talk at us for the longest time, FINALLY getting new clothes, and having one of the best nights in Paris so far.

However, I'm exhausted, so I'm going to finish my "Ice tea" (they really just say "Ice tea" here!), watch some Ratatouille since I've been craving it since I've been here, and go to SLEEP. For a long time.

I'll let you know how many things I recognize from Ratatouille and everything we did to fêter le jour d'anniversaire d'Abby!


FUN FACT: While I was on the metro coming home, I talked to these two ladies from Chicago. They were adorable. They told me to be careful. Then they got off to buy sweatshirts.

Bonne journée!

Updating really quickly before I leave to go to class. I have some little errands to run before I get to school, so I should probably leave soonish...

In other completely un-related news, it's Abby's birthday! I am quite excited. Hannah and I are going to dine chez elle (at her house) tonight with her host mother.

Thought of the day:
My host parents want me to complain about something. Every day, they ask me if everything's going alright, and I tell them yes, everything is going wonderfully. I think that they don't believe me. This morning, my host dad asked me if I slept well, and before I even started to say that I did, he said something like "Oh yes, of course you did!" And then he told me, if something isn't going right, I need to tell them.

But everything's going amazingly!!! I don't have anything to complain about. Should I make up something to complain about? Should I keep on telling them that everything's going well? What would you do?

Things have changed for me! But that's okay. I feel the same. I'm on my way...

I've been watching this video like it's my job.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XBE49k3zzM

Her cover videos and my pile of peanut butter that I brought with me have been satisfying my needs for American/English-speaking things. Though there's a lot of English around here.

I feel sad when people try to speak to us in English! I try in French, and I don't even use any English words, but they always know that I'm American! It discourages me a little bit, but I haven't broken my pact yet. Every French person I've talked to, I've spoken French to, or waited until the French explanation of what I meant to say popped into my head. I have been letting myself be more lenient around the other Smithies though. I've found that there are three types of Smith JYA Paris students.

They are the following:
1. Pretends to know what's going on in class and muddles through French conversation only with the Smith administration, until it's time to leave the classroom and it's English all the way.
2. Generally directly translates from English to French without adhering to French conversation rules. These are the folk who don't know what I'm saying when I try to speak like a French person, and I instead need to refrain from any colloquial language and speak more slowly.
3. Speaks and tries to think in French all the time, and only breaks from French to complain to others about our director.

^ That last one is me (among others, who are the ones I'm closest to in the program). I just don't get a good vibe from him.

My host mom isn't here tonight, so my host dad, sister, and I are left to fend for ourselves dinner-wise. We usually eat in a half hour, so I'm going to go outside after I finish posting this to see if I can help with dinner.

Right now, I hear classical music outside my door. Before, I heard dad and sister next door playing something on the computer. I kept hearing "Strike!" I'll have to ask her later what she was playing.

About my family:
Host dad:
Is adorable. I feel that he's awkward like me, which makes our interactions easier to understand. However, I always feel like we're never really done with our conversations when one of us leaves awkwardly. I learned from him "Beuh.. ben, voila." I expect to perfect this phrase before I leave.

Host mom:
She's about half my height and reminds me of every cute mom I've ever known. She always makes sure that I tell her when I need something, and she wants me to feel like a part of the family. She makes THE best food ever.

Host sister:
She's 10 years old and really bitty. I always hear her through the house, which I like. She is super-witty and makes me laugh out loud quite often. I usually ask her about the words I don't know. Yesterday, when I asked her what "moquette" meant, she grabbed my hand and we ran to her room. She showed me the carpet on the floor, since that was the easiest way for her to explain it. Now, she's playing one of her father's dozen recorders.

That's what else I love! There's always music in the house. They all sing wonderfully, and they know their "do my sol"s by heart. My host sister plays the cello and the recorder. Yesterday, she and her dad played a beautiful duet. It was THE cutest thing I've seen in a long time.



It should be about time for dinner, so until next time!


FUN FACT OF THE DAY: The metro in Paris doesn't have all of the doors automatically open at stops like in New York. If you want the doors to open, you have to push down on a little lever on the door!

Mais qu'il fait froid dehors !

I'm about to sit down to a lovely dinner of veal sausage, broccoli, mashed potato, and des fromages. I finally got a cell phone today, but I'm still not so sure how to use it. I know that incoming texts and calls don't cost me a cent, but I'm not sure about how it works the other way around. I don't want to start texting Americans, only to find out that I totally ruined their cell phone plan.

dinner time!

Bienvenue!

Hello, soon-to-be faithful readers! I am writing from Paris, France. It is officially my 5th day in the City of Lights, and I already have tons of stories to tell you! I was hoping that I would be able to make more video responses, but as it is, I still feel a little uncomfortable talking to myself right inside of a room where my host family is talking amongst themselves. For now, I give you THE BLOG.

Since it's been awhile and I have a lot of things that I want to remember, this entry may be quite long. However, I'm going to try to update once a day from now on.

Chronological order time!

Thursday:
I spent the whole night on the plane! I left around 6:30. I saw the sun set over New York, and arrived during the sunrise over London. It was extraordinary. So extraordinary that I didn't get more than a wink of sleep.



Heathrow is a GINORMOUS airport. It took all of 45 minutes to take a bus to my gate and then walk/run the rest of the way, just in time for the boarding call to Paris. It was only a 40 minute flight, and there I was! Smack dab in the middle of Paris!

I took a bus to the hotel, which literally took longer than the flight. I sat next to a lady who was not too happy with my picture-taking and squeeing at things like street signs.

There were already 10 Smithies in the lobby, only two of which I actually knew their names. We hung out, grabbed a croque monsieur for lunch (like a grilled cheese but with a hot dog baked inside. Authentic French cuisine, I assure you), and I took a nap for a really long time. We went out for dinner later, and I had beef bourgignon served in a little cast iron pot. It was the most delicious beef stew I've ever tasted.




Saturday (since Friday happened when I landed in London):
We had a breakfast at the hotel where we were all staying, and then we had an informational meeting at Reid Hall, where our Smith classes are held. It was a lot of paperwork and boring, and we were all excited to leave to get to meet our parents!

I was a little nervous, since I brought a lot of bags with me, but my host parents seemed really nice. I have a host sister! She's 10 years old. I knew that we'd get along when she took my hand during our first meeting and kept talking to me.

We left in a car with the three of them and Abby, since her host mom wasn't here yet. On our way to the apartment, my host sister pointed out the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the American Embassy, le Grand Palais, and the Boulevard des Invalides. It was AWESOME.

We had dinner that night, prosciutto, ham, salad with tomatoes and mozzarella, and bread. We have bread literally at every meal. Bread with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, coffee with breakfast and lunch, and wine with lunch and dinner. C'est magnifique!




I think I've about given up on my day-to-day goings on for now. I smell good things outside my door, so I think it's about time for dinner! I set the table and help do the dishes. Also, it's my turn to do my laundry tonight.

A bientot! Talk to you later!