- Went to a concert at Elysée Montmarte - craaazy - got back at 6 a.m. on the Metro. The metro doesn't run from 2:00 a.m. to 5:30 a.m. on weekends
- Bus Tour of Paris - saw all the major monuments, La Tour Eiffel, La Place de Concorde, L'Arc de Triomphe, etc.
- Shopping at Les Soldes. The French government mandates when stores can have sales, and that period is from Jan 10 to Feb 10, and then again in July. So right now, everything in the country is on sale. I bought a pair of Nike shoes, but I need to go back and buy some cologne and maybe a sweater or something.
- Went out in St. Germain/Latin Quarter. Ended up at a French person's apartment, someone a girl I was with went to camp with. It was the nicest apartment I've ever seen! 2 stories, at least 20 rooms, marble floors and statues everywhere...very cool.
- Museums - I tried to go to the Picasso exhibit at the Grand Palais with my friend Emily Haymer, from Michigan. We thought it was at Palais Royale so we walked around there for a while first, then went to the Grand Palais. We waited in line for about 20 minutes and then realized that we were at the wrong place, just as we got to the front of the line. We went to "6 million other people", an exhibit of interviews with people from all countries of the world talking about really deep topics. It was cool, not amazing. The Grand Palais was very cool though. We left and went to the other side of the museum, where the Picasso Exhibit was. The line was 4 hours, and it was closing the next day. Because it was the last weekend of the show, the exhibit was open 24 hours. We made an executive decision to come back. Then we went to the Louvre, free the first weekend of every month, and walked around for just 30 minutes or so until it closed. I'll be back to it, no worries.
- Dinner at Les Relais de Venice. It's a restaurant where you sit down and all you tell the waitress is how you want your steak cooked. They bring 2 helpings of steak frites and lots of wine. It was very, very good. I went with a bunch of people from my program. Then we went to watch the superbowl.
- Superbowl. I watched it at Patrick's, an Irish sports bar. They kept the place open for the Americans. There were about 70 or so people from my program watching. After 2:00 am, all bars are supposed to be closed but they let us stay on a few conditions. All the lights were off, we couldn't cheer, and we had to stay away from the windows so nobody could see us. But we could still drink! The superbowl was a LOT of fun and I met a lot of the other kids on my program there.
- After the Superbowl, we realized it was snowing! It hardly ever snows in Paris. Me and a few other people decided to take a cab to the Picasso exhibit, at 4:30 a.m.! We got there, had a 5 minute wait, and got to see the UNBELIEVABLE exhibit. The place was packed! We walked around the exhibit for 2 hours, seeing Picasso's famous works next to the originals of the paintings that inspired them. It was very, very cool. Picasso was a genius. We all took the metro home that morning with all the people going to work.
- Orientation. CEA informed us about the dangers of Paris and culture shock. Basically, because I am a man, I will not be pickpocketed. And if I don't obnoxiously speak english on the metro, I won't be pickpocketed. And If I don't get beligerently drunk and go on the metro or walk the streets, I won't be pickpocketed. We also were told about good neighborhoods to go out in and places to shop. That night, I went grocery shopping at La Champion (my local grocery store) for the first time. I made myself chicken breast for dinner, with bread, cheese and of course, wine. I went to bed early that night, finally getting some sleep.
- Academics. Finally, we're at today (Tuesday). I learned about classes for La Sorbonne and policies. We ate a typical french student meal (a sandwich with cheese, lettuce and tomatoe and maybe some meat) and took our placement test at La Sorbonne. I'll find out next week how I did and then pick my classes for sure. I'll have a lot of class: 2 hours of grammer a day, 5 days a week. 1 hour of phonetics a day, 5 days a week (but only every other week), then 2 elective classes that are 2 hours a week. It's a full schedule! After the test, me and the others on my program walked down Rue Moufftard and went to a few happy hour bars. A couple of us got dinner and then went out to some bars for a bit. I came home early because I'm getting up and going to Versailles tomorrow.
Paris is still amazing. I will have a lot of class and I'll have to study, but the program offers great day trips on the weekends and I'm sure I'll find time to see all the places in Europe I want to see. People on the trip are a lot of fun. My roommate was in Prague this weekend but now he's back. Sometimes it's intimidating to speak French in public, because you know you are going to mess up, but I think I am getting better. I'm anxious for classes to start so I can continue to improve.
The apartment is good, neighborhood is very fun and easy to get to places. I'll be pretty close to my classes at La Sorbonne. Now I have a week to explore the city before I start classes on Feb. 10.
More Random Observations:
- Water bottles are more expensive than bottles of wine
- All the cheese smells A LOT more in France than in America
- I hate going on the Metro in big groups of Americans because you stick out so much
- The Metro makes the city so easy
- I went to the Kosher Bakery on my street but I didn't know what to say to the people who worked there, so I just bought a baguette and left. I'm sure I'll go back...but it's cool that I live by Jews
- If you try to speak French, the French people really appreciate it and will speak French back to you.
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