Let me just start off by saying that maintaining a blog is not as easy as I thought it would be! There are so many things going on in one day that I know writing will take time. Even though we have not done the touristy things, like visiting the Eiffel Tower or seeing the Mona Lisa there is a still a lot going on not to mention that classes have not even started.
Alright so today is day 4 which means that I missed two days of blogging aka this will be a long post.
Day two was interesting to say the least. Wait, don't think that I mean bad, far from that, it was a pretty awesome day! First of all day one was jet lag central, not just me but also for my 3 flatmates Liz, Adrianne (my roommate) and Natalie. It was around 3am (Parisian time) when we all woke up. We were in zombie mode but for some reason could not sleep. We all ended up just walking around making some tea, after a bit of early morning bonding time we attempted to sleep. But, there was no sleep involved. Basically, the failed attempts comprised of laying in bed for hours and hours. I could not sleep, the excitement, the jet lag, the speaking French in my head to practice. Not to mention that I turned on my phone and only to instantly get a voicemail from my mother crying and asking me to call her. Yea, I got super worried but it turned out that she just wanted to make sure I was ok, how cute right? But yes, at the same time sad, my mommy misses me.
After the sleepless episode, it was time to head to the Sorbonne and that whole area. Actually, before leaving Liz and I were told that our school did not receive the online placement test we took and that we will have to take a written portion in addition to the oral test, YIKES. The international office however was closed on Friday which means that we will have to take our written exam tomorrow. With already haven taken the online version, I hope that I will be a little more prepared and won't do horribly. So, since we did not have an exam to take that day, Boris, decided to give Liz and I a tour of the area. We saw both schools, walked all the way to the Lourve, saw the student bars, a café thats always pictured on French textbooks, St-Saint-Germain (a super ritzy area) and the RUGBY bar AREA, yes there is a whole area where there are multiple rugby bars within a few feet from each other. After our hour long tour, Boris left. Liz and I both stopped by the Luxembourg park which may I say is beautiful. We actually ended up waling from that area back to our flat. We were not lost and we figured everything out pretty quickly! I felt like a true Parisian. Minus the whole part where we were walking, turned to the right, saw the Eiffel Tour and totally freaked out; jumping up and down in the middle of the street.
Oh and I almost forgot, on our little adventure we were super hungry, so we decided to buy a baguette. Now this may take some explaining. During the tossing and turning of the morning, I decided to look online to see when my year of being vegan would be over. Turns out it would not be until April or late March, the whole day I was battling with the idea. Dang, being in Paris and I could eat nothing but salads for two months! Back home this would be totally ok, but 1. the US does not have the spectacular cuisine that is here in Paris. 2. I don't know everything on menus and probs would eat many many things with dairy even if i tried m y best to avoid animal products. So I ended up sharing a cheese baguette with Liz (from Paul, a famous place apparently.) So, I am no longer vegan :/ The food is great but I do feel really bad. Even with the high five from Boris and the explosion of taste in my mouth, there was still a part of me that felt like a traitor almost a years effort to give in for some fromage.
So after the walking we came back to the flat to hangout for a bit before our welcome dinner. We got ready, drank a little wine and headed to this fancy restaurant from what we saw online. Well we had a large tipical French 3 course meal which was AMAZING. I had to appetizers, and a dessert of 3 types of sorbets: pear, pineapple, and passion fruit. Everything was delicious and the waiter loved us. We ended up leaving the restaurant around what I think was 11:30, which means we were there for over 2 hours. I just want to point out that one of the girls snuck a peek at the check, came out to around 400 euros, yep no big (it was free, the program paid, phew.) Coming out of the restaurant we decided that it was essential to go out and experience Parisian nightlife for ourselves. Yes, I know what you are thinking what a burden, but hey we were in the RUGBY BAR area! So yeah my first night in Paris, I was heading to rugby bars which contrary to those "classy" socials everyone was nicely dressed and behaving properly. We stayed there for a few hours had a drinks, and danced a little to songs like Thriller, some salsa song, shakira, tonights going to be a good night (very entertaining when the whole bar sings it and everyone has a huge French accent.) One thing we found out is that guys cannot get in if they re not accompanied by girls. Also, one of the bars has a cave! yeah it was pretty awesome, and they put glowsticks in the drinks! So needless to say, these French rugby bars are pretty much awesome.
OK so yesterday was a bit more chill and can probs be summarized in one paragraph? So we wanted to go shopping to take advantage of the "huge sales" going on. Well they are not all that. Stuff was still a bit expensive, I just ended up buying a shirt. Oh and can I mention that I have yet to exchange my money! I have basically been using my debit card to pay, which IS NOT a good idea. Chase has a crazy exchange and usage rates. And, me taking out money to exchange over here was not as good idea as I thought. Paris is not like Mexico, exchanging money is difficult I have only seen on exchange place and well I did not have the money with me. Alright so the best best part of yesterdays shopping adventure was the crêpe that I ate from a little cart. It was awesome and well only 4 euros! After we hung out at the flat and then joined Emily and Charlotte (2 more girls from Abroadco that are staying in the dorm) for curry dinner and wine.
The meal was homemade and super good! Oh and the dorms are actually pretty cool. There are a bunch of old but pretty buildings for all the international students in Paris. The houses are divided by nation, meaning all the Americans are in one dorm and the Moroccans in another.
As far as the language deal is going, a lot of people speak english and well I try my best at the French. I still get nervous but I'm easing my way into everything. We have all witnessed some embarrassing moments but we deal. Some have been with language (being explained for about 10 minutes about some key) and some have been just with the traditions here (not being able to open doors)
Last note, I have not really taken many picture. Well, more like any but I promise I will soon start.
DONE! Until next time hopefully I do a better job on updating from now on.
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