Les premiers jours...

Wow it's been a crazy couple of days. So I had finals for summer school on Wednesday and Thursday, and then we moved into our new apartment ALL DAY Friday. I got there at 9am to finish signing the lease and everything, and then we started actually moving stuff around 10am. We didn't finish until 3am! We moved so much stuff, including our huge 8 foot couch (which fit in the elevator somehow - thanks, Danny), the really heavy and awkward futon, the dining room table and chairs, all our lamps, and our kitchen stuff, plus mine and Stephanie's beds and desks. Then, we went to Ikea and got some stuff we were missing, which we then got to bring back (and carry up in one trip - thanks, Mitch) and build. Which took until 3 in the morning. But our apartment is SO cute, I'm sad I had to leave it a mere three hours later to catch my flight.

Saturday was also insane. After sleeping for 2.5 hours, I got on a plane for Phoenix to meet up with my mom so we could fly to Paris. I got into Phoenix at 9:30am and went straight to my haircut. Then I had to go home and pack, and I actually fit in a manicure with my mom haha. Then we went back to the airport for our flight at 7:30pm. I didn't sleep at allllll. I tried since I hadn't slept in forever, but it just wasn't happening. I watched Date Night, Valentine's Day, and half of How to Train Your Dragon. We landed at Heathrow at some point and then got on another plane to Paris, but I don't really remember that much since I was running on no sleep. We finally got to Paris and I legit passed out on the shuttle ride to my new house. Outside, it doesn't look like much, but inside is AMAZING. There is so much cool art and it's huge! I have my own room for the first time in two years (even though I miss my roomies!!) and it's so nice. It was my host mom, Bibiane's, birthday just before we came, so we brought her a present: a Snuggie. It was hilarious. Everyone kept trying to put it on backwards when they saw it. The one we got has a pocket in the front, too. It was a huge hit because they haven't seen them here yet. Also, one of their daughters just had a baby so it's all they talk about and il est trop mignon :). Then we had dinner and I took a shower and passed out and slept for a solid 12 hours.

À coté de mon école.

Yesterday, we took the bus into Paris and walked A LOT. We passed Le Louvre et Les Jardin des Tuileries et Le Museé D'Orsay. We mostly just walked around the city, getting lost a few times. Also, I went to the bathroom at a department store and it was 1 euro! Ridiculous. It was a very long day and we took the bus back and since where we got on is one-way we got lost trying to find the house. We finally did, and by that point we were exhausted, but Maxime (host brother, Maddie's au pair for two summers, too) came for dinner and we all ate together for a few hours. The food here is so good! And I never feel super full because they eat so fast and take away the food before you can go for seconds, which is good because it's so good I would probably just keep eating until it's gone. It's interesting trying to keep up in French. I definitely have a long way to go. I'm trying to remember as much as possible from high school, but it's just not happening. Hopefully I'll pick it up quickly :/ I went to bed kind of late last night again, and slept for another 12 hours. When I woke up this morning I looked at my watch, then squinted at it to make sure I was reading it right, and then grabbed my iPod just to double check. It really was 12:45 haha talk about a fail.

The lock at the house really hates me, and each time I leave I spend about ten minutes trying to lock the stupid thing. You have to hold the handle straight up while you turn the key, and I guess I haven't been holding the handle up far enough, ending in a fail. But I think I have it figured out now. After much frustration. Anyway, today my mom and I went to le centre commercial (mall) called Le Vache Noir (the black cow) to look around and get a hair dryer because when my mom plugged hers in to the converter it didn't work, so she tried to go straight into the adapter and it was literally glowing red. I was like PLEASE never try that again haha. So I got the cutest little hair dryer for 9 euro. We also went to the supermarket, and it was so strange. My mom told me only to buy fresh bread, so I didn't get any of that. Also, I guess cereal isn't so popular here, so I didn't get that either. The milk was in boxes and NOT in the refrigerated section.... And the eggs at the house are in a little basket above the sink (not in the fridge either). I ended up getting a nectarine and 4 little yogurts haha. We'll see how long that lasts me. But I can walk to the mall and the supermarket from the house, which is really nice. I can also walk to the bus stop that takes me to the Mètro and my school, which we went to see today. It's so cool! It's pretty close, I could bike if I wanted to brave the streets of Paris. It's in Le Quartier Latin, which is full of students and so much beautiful architecture (see corresponding pictures on Facebook).

À mon école.

  After seeing the school, we came back home, and then I went out for dinner with Agathe (host sister) and her friends right back next to my school haha. It was REALLY hard to follow their conversation. They would speak in English for maybe 4 words and then be back to French, speaking at a mile a minute. Goal: be able to actually contribute to such a conversation in the (near) future. One of her friends is going to school on the same street as me, and asked if I wanted to get coffee sometime, which was really nice. It was a fun night, except they all smoke SO much. I knew people here smoked a lot, but it was A LOT. Hopefully I won't be at a table of 4 smoking people every night because my lungs will not be able to handle that :/ Oh, also, I had a glass of wine with dinner, it was so strange. My mom bought a bottle of wine earlier today and it dawned on me then that I could have bought it. So odd. We took a bus and the Mètro to dinner, but got a ride back, which was nice. And now I'm about to pass out yet again, hopefully not for 12 hours. À demain, Agathe et moi allons faire du shopping. I hope I don't spend all my money, and I hope I get a lot of cute clothes...the style is so different here I feel like I can't wear anything I have. Plus I have to get a costume for the party they're having on Friday. That should be interesting. Apparently it's going to be 100-150 people here. It'll be crazy, I'm sure. I'm going to try and write often!


Au revoir!