Bon soir! Ca va? Ca va bien! I'm doing great. Alot has happened since my last post. I've taken alot of pictures and experienced alot of things. It's overwhelming but oh, so sweet. :)... Starting with where I left off... On Sunday morning, Jamie and I walked to "Le Jardin de Luxembourg" (Luxembourg Garden) It's very close to us so we only walked for about 10 minutes. It's amazing that something this awesome is so close to our apartment. The gardens were absolutely beautiful but we didn't have much time so we just strolled through, seeing as much as possible in 2 hours. We saw several interesting things including the red ribbons in trees shown in the picture to the left. The ribbons said, "Etre dans le vent, c'est l'ambition des feulles." (To be in the wind, this is the ambition of leaves.) These ribbons were ALL over the trees in the park. Also, another amazing thing I saw was this HUGE playground. It was Sunday so alot of kids were there playing. Some of them were on the jungle gym pictured below. It had to be 30 ft. high. They were at the TOP OF IT!!! It scared me to death but they were bouncing around like monkeys as if it was an everyday occurence. Well, I guess it is for them :).
After we toured the gardens, we met at the ISA (International Studies Abroad) Office for our first meeting with the group of students, teachers, and directors. They told us all about the program, Paris life, and lots of other things that I won't bore you with at the moment. Then, we got to the good stuff. The guy that was staying in our homestay, Kyle, is a piccell representative. Since I have been staying with him for two days, he convinced me that I NEED a cell phone and I agree. So, seeing as it's a very good deal because ISA pays everything but outgoing calls, I went ahead and got one. It's very useful to contact my friends in the group but I can't use it to call the U.S. until Wednesday. I'm waiting patiently for that... :). Ok, then we all piled on a big tour bus and had a guided tour of the Paris. The lady spoke very good English so it was a great tour and I took great pictures. For example...
Ah, it was awesome. Then, we went to our welcome dinner at Baladin. It's in Le Quartier Latin (the Latin quarter). Definitely the best salmon I've ever had in my life. I don't even know what it costs but we did not pay a dime for ANYTHING. ISA paid for it all. We had appertifs (before dinner drinks), shrimp cocktail, mozzarella with tomatoes, wine with dinner, salmon/chicken/pork, green beans, french fries, chocolate mousse, strawberries, sherbert, and much more. It was so good. While we were eating, Katie Kasprzak talked to me about her living situation. She hates and wants to move. She talked to Gabriel, our director during dinner and they happened to suggest her moving in with Madame! It's so exciting because Katie and I get along really well so I'm excited. Madame ok'd it and Katie's moving in Wednesday. We're excited! Here is a picture of Katie and I.
Next, our table of friends at dinner decided to go out to a bar and celebrate our arrival. A girl that worked at Baladin walked us to the cutest little caberat piano bar. It was so much fun! We had wine and talked. The area (le quartier latin) is so unique- it's tiny little streets with no cars or roads are lined with bars, restaurants and boutiques. It's the cutest little place. I want to go back there soon.
Today was a shopping day. First, we had class in the morning which was wonderful. Dr. Romeiser is the best French professor at UT so his class is really fun. When we left class at 12:30, we walked towards Montparnasse (a big skyscraper with a mall underneath). We stopped and had lunch at a cafe on le rue de montparnasse. Six of us girls just sat there for 2 hours just eating and talking. I had the best French Onion Soup- literally, the BEST. Then, we headed towards the mall. We shopped there for a little while then headed towards the street right beside our apartment. It's so great because we are the closest to all the big shopping areas. We stopped at H&M (a big French clothing store). I only allowed myself to buy the cutest little turquoise bag and aviator sunglasses. All the Parisian women wear aviators so I figured it would help me blend in :). Then, Jamie and I came back to our apartment and ate dinner with Madame. It was even better than our first dinner. She made asparagus with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, stewed veggies, and veal le cordon bleu- mouthwatering. We sat and talked with her and I love it because we only speak French. I didn't believe it when everyone told me that my French would improve just by being here but it's so true. I am speaking French 10x better than I was right before I came. It's mostly because of Madame. She is so good at teaching (probably because she is a teacher).
Jamie and I walked down la rue de cherche-midi (the street we live on) after dinner. We sat down at a cafe to just have wine- cultural lesson #1: do not go to a RESTAURANT for just wine. No, no, no, no, no... you go to a cafe or brasserie or bar for that... not a restuarant. They guy was nice but he said, "no you MUST eat if you're here" and we were like practically crying so he let us slide by promising that we would come back to "dance with him at a disco" :). God, I love Parisian men... they're so charming- ha, not so much.
Well, this was a very long blog but I had so much to talk about. It's been very eventful and I'm guessing it will continue to be so. Be prepared for some long liesurely reading-haha. Ok, well, gotta go... I'm so tired. I'll write again, soon, I promise. Bon soir mes amis!
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