Weekend

I'm really bad at updating this thing! Well the rest of the week/weekend was great. Yesterday, in the morning, it snowed a little. Later in the day, I went to Chinatown and went shopping on Rue Rivoli which has stores like BHV (huge department store), Mango, Zara, and H&M. Then last night I went out to dinner near the Ecole Militaire and Champs de Mars. It was really good and really cheap! Today I spent the afternoon at the Louvre. I saw the Monna Lisa and Venus de Milo, as well as pratically every french painting, egyptian artifact, and greek sculpture. On my way home I walked through the Parc Mountsouris that is right across from the apartment. It was a beautiful day so there were lots of joggers and families playing in the park. There is also a Crepe stand that sells crepes, hot drinks, and other delicious foods (I got the hot chocolate). It is so cold here, not what I was expecting as far as weather! I also found out that right down the street there are bakeries, markets, and fruit stands which is super convenient and much better than having to trek over to the supermarket via Metro. Well classes begin tomorrow at 930am (the earliest I have ever had a college class to date) and I am super excited. It will be nice to finally get into a routine and it will fill up my days for sure. Until next time....au revoir!

-MEP

Finally here!

PARIS!!!! So I finally have internet at the apartment! I was kind of going crazy with out it because my blackberry is not a good substitute at all! Let's catch up on what I've been doing:

Monday I arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport around 11am. Fortunately all my luggage got there safe and sound. I was worried one of the bags was going to get lost somewhere because I've heard the Paris airports are bad at handling luggage. I met up with 15 other people from my flight and headed to CEA, my host school for the next four months. Later in the afternoon I arrived at my apartment in the 14th arrondissement. The area is really cool, only 10 minutes from the Metro and close to the American dorms where many people in my program live. There is also a park across the street from me that is gorgeous. Tuesday was lots of orientation, which was VERY tiring. I met lots of people though which is great. We also took a 2.5 hour bus tour of the city which gave me an idea of places I want to explore more (especially the areas with lots of shops). Yesterday was orientation day 2 which was very boring but I guess they have to do it. I went out with a bunch of girls last night which was very fun. Today we had to go to school for more orientation and then we grabbed lunch and shopped a little. I finally got a phone here which I had been wanting to get since Monday.

So far Paris has been wonderful to me...I am finally settling in and realizing that this place will be my home for the next 4 months. I think it will fly by! Some things that I am not used to yet are the cultural differences between the French and Americans. We smile a lot in the US but apparently the French do not smile very often. This is virtually impossible for me to do, I smile way too much. They also wear dark colors all winter long while we tend to wear yellows and other bright colors all year round, another difference that will be hard for me to adapt to.

Despite what we may think in the US, I have only had good interactions with the French people. They are very kind and helpful when you get lost on the Metro (this has happened to me already!) and I really think that they only get annoyed by us when we are very loud and obnoxious.

Ok enough for now, I hope to update more often...

-MEP

Bonjour

OMG I can't believe I leave for Paris tomorrow. People are calling and texting me to say bye which is making me a little sad but I am so excited at the same time. I just found out there are two other girls from my program who are on my flight tomorrow night which is cool. I am almost done packing now. Here's the shoe count: one pair of wellies, boots, and flips flops, two pairs of flats, a pair of sneakers and pumas, a pair of mocs, and a pair of uggs. That makes 8 pairs of shoes? That's excellent for me(Krista and Jules remember memorial day '07?!). I managed to get my mom to let me bring two suitcases instead of just one. No way I could put my entire life into one suitcase for 4 months!

I'll try to update the blog as much as possible. Au revoir!

-MEP