Au revoir Paris!

The group, all the students, Dr. Hagan, and Dr. Hagan's sister Kathryn!

A new ad in the Metro that I am particularily fond of

Escargot..I ate this?!

Cafe with friends after our last day of class!

• Well, we are pretty much packed up, after two long but full last days in this beautiful city. We had our last day of class Wednesday morning and I really enjoyed it. Most of our time this day was spent discussing, which forced me to work on both my pronunciation and oral comprehension skills, two of which I've noticed have the most room for improvement! To celebrate the end of class, Corey, Andrew, Jenna, Jayna, and myself went to lunch at our favorite cafe on Montparnasse Avenue, right next to Galleries Layfatte and Tour Montparnasse. I had a croque poulet for lunch, which is basically a grilled chicken and cheese with cheese melted on the top. That afternoon we visited my most favorite museum so far, Musee D'Orsay, which hosts a large collection of Impressionist paintings. My eyes were wide all afternoon! VanGough, Cezanne, Monet, were some of the big names there..just to name a few! It was very impressive! That night, our group met at a restaurant near the site of the Bastille to have a group dinner together. The food was delicious! Though I unknowingly ate some foie gras, which is the liver of a goose or duck that has been force-fed to make it fatter. Mmm. I also tried escargot, which in case you didn't know is snails! I thought they tasted like seaweed! (coming from a true camp counselor!) A few of us ended the night off with a trip to see the twinkling Eiffel Tower one more time.
• This morning, the group met at the Tuilries Garden, which is parallel to The Seine and leads to The Louvre, for our final presentations. It was a gorgeous morning in the park! Then we had the afternoon free to ourselves to finish up any last minute Paris things we wanted to fit in. I went on a shopping/sightseeing adventure all afternoon and rode the Metro more times today than I can count! On our way venturing to find a certain shop, we stumbled across a wonderful photo display which was very exciting! The weather was also very pleasant today. Though, my feet finally decided to let me know how they were feeling today, but I am thankful that at least it was the last day! After I had enough shopping down the Champs-Elysees, I came home to start packing and have one more meal with Karen and our host family. I am now mostly packed up, crossing my fingers that I won't go over the weight limit with all the new books I bought here! I am heading to bed now, we fly out before lunch tomorrow, plus we have to be to the airport 3 hours prior to our departure, so it will make for an early morning. I am not ready to leave Paris yet but am looking forward to being back in the Midwest! What a great adventerous month I've spent here in Paris! Look for another update in the coming days and I will hopefully find a way to share my pictures with you! Thank you for reading about my trip!

Our last Tuesday!

Paris brings camp friends together once again :) Paige and myself

Classic Paris.

Two of our classmates and Michelle working hard in class

Hmm..Eiffel Tower anyone?

• Our last Tuesday here means our last day of 6 hours of class! I know we are learning a lot, but 6 hours of French education is a lot to take in in one day! And of course, once again, the sun was shining while we were working on pronuncation, verb tenses, and dictation! In class this afternoon, we had to write stories about a wedding and how things went wrong on this particular couples' day. The story that my partner, Mario, and I wrote told of how a groom didn't show up for their beautiful wedding at Notre Dame, and when he finally did, his suit was all wet! It was much more funny in class, since we wrote these in French! Our prof read them aloud in class and we all let some giggles out at our classmate's creativity.
• After finally finishing class at 5pm (or 17h00 if you prefer), Andrew, Jayna, and I hung out on the Champs de Mars (the grassy area by the Eiffel Tower) in the shade. There were lots of people there; playing cards, chatting, playing with their dogs, reading, some even sleeping! It is a wonderful place to hang out! It is a very good place to people watch I realized. As we were leaving the Eiffel Tower area, we had a chance to see the Parisian police at work, attempting to chase away the street vendors from underneath the tower (since these vendors are not authorized to be selling items there). Sad, but entertaining nonetheless.
• I ate supper with my host family back at home in our apartment. After receiving a message via Facebook, I left on the Metro once again to go meet up with my camp friend who ran into me on Friday night at the Louvre. I luckily found her hotel again and we both chatted while writing in our journals. It was great to see her again! To end off the night, we walked down the block to get a delicious crepe - Mmmm!
• And that puts me back here! Its so sad that my days are numbered..I don't want to leave Paris! Tomorrow is a visit to Musee D'Orsay..One I have been looking forward to this entire trip!!!

Class, Centre Pompidou, et Montmarte

Paris at night - as viewed from Montmarte/Sacre-Coeur

At the Centre Pompidou - "London Bridge" by Matisse (fauvism)

The group riding the glass covered escalators of the Pompidou Center!

Centre Pompidou - Museum of Modern Art - making a little modern art myself!

• Our three hours of class this morning began by talking and writing with a partner about our weekends (after our professor switched up the seating arrangment of course). After we went over these things together as a group, we got our tests back from Friday. We worked once again with our partners to help correct our mistakes - and boy were there a lot of them! We spent a lot of time conversing today and also did some more dictation. I can still see my language skills improving every day! Though I have found my professor very difficult to understand. See, they talk quite quickly here, but our prof even more so! And its even harder when she is speaking to me directly for some reason..maybe its the "put on the spot" feeling..I'm not sure! I'm still learning!
• After class was finished, Jayna, Corey, Andrew, and myself spent awhile in the school's cafeteria working on homework while eating lunch. I had a ham and cheese panini..mmm yummy! Eventually we peeled ourselves away from our worksheets and caught a Metro to a different part of the city. After meandering some Parisian streets for awhile we finally stumbled upon Centre Pompidou - Museum for Modern Art. Built in the 70's, basically "inside out," Centre Pompidou brought lots of controversy. Now, people love it. There are always people gathered in the large square in front of the building, street performers, students, day dreamers, you name it! It is a really fun place, even before you get into the museum!
• We met our guide for the day and headed on into this spectacular building! After taking glass covered escalators to the top floor to see the spectacular view, we walked around the fifth floor seeing some of the world's greatest modern works of art. This was such a fun visit for me; it was one of those visits that made my Art History class that I took last semester so much more worth it! We saw works by Matisse, Delauny, Picasso, Braque, and many more! I was amazed to see such awesome works of art that I had previously only seen in my textbooks! Ask anyone, I had a giant smile on my face the entire time! (I think I had enough excitement for our whole group combined!) Sadly though, it cost more to go see the special Kandinsky exhibit on the top floor!
• After our awesome museum visit, a few of us headed to Notre Dame, taking a bit of a detour on foot on the way (which is always an adventure in this city!) On our way, we got ice cream and crepes...Mmmm! We then toured Notre Dame and then planned to go to The Crypt, but alas, the doors close at 5:30, we go there at 6pm! So then a few of us made our way back to Centre Pompidou, seeing as I was still in search of a photography book or two. The store in that place is amazing! I ended up buying two different books for about 30 Euro. One is photos of Paris and the other is a worldwide photography book that I plan to take hints from in my journalism photo work!
• Back at home, we shared a meal with our host family, which was once again amazingly delicious and the conversation was full of laughs! My host dad doesn't speak much English, which is forcing me (in a good way of course!) to work even harder on my French! After supper, I sat down with him to show him a lot of my photos..which I currently have over 2000 total from this month! He likes to tease me about my sunglasses pictures, but I can tell that he likes them!
• Then after supper, I met up with Andrew and Corey and we went to Montmarte to see the Paris sky at night - it was incredible! Now that it is almost 1 am, I'm going to head to bed to anticipate our last day of 6 hours of class!

Weekend Wonders!

My supper tonight..Yummy!

Mont Saint-Michel

American WWII cemetrey in Normandy

American cemetery in Normandy

Bomb and explosion craters from D-Day on Omaha

Outside the Louvre as the sun was setting

• This weekend brought us many wonders, one reason why I haven't been able to blog in a few days - we've been busy! Friday morning was my first French test and then the second half of the class time we filled out a worksheet while walking around the Luxembourg Gardens (only a few blocks away from our school!) After class was finished, I walked down the street, several blocks, to the Foundation Cartier - Center for Contemporary Art, where there was a photo display by William Eggleson. It was awesome! The other artist's who's work was also on display was fantastic also, but unfortunately I didn't stay long because I was meeting other members of our group for lunch at a cafe. And what a wonderful lunch we had! After finishing a meal of various omlettes and baguettes, the four of us took the Metro to a different part of the city, much closer to the center to the European House of Photography and saw 5 different photographer's galleries. They were incredible!
• After we were finished there, it was time for The Louvre. We met our group and guide by the upside down pyramid in Napoleon's Hall, which is underground and created to handle museum goers. We were led through this huge museum by our guide Edith, seeing the Venus de Milo, The Winged Victory, The Mona Lisa, and many other great and historical works of art. Near the end of our guided tour, I was surprised by a friend! My friend Paige also from Minnesota who I worked with at camp this past summer walked right past me! In the Louvre! What a surprise! A great way to end my Friday night at the Louvre!
• Saturday morning brought our group an early morning train ride to northwestern France. We met another guide at our coach bus outside the train station and then proceeded to go on a day of visiting WWII sites. The first stop was a German cemetery, then we stopped at a part the Omaha area to see remainders of craters left from bombs and explosions on D-Day. We then headed to Omaha Beach itself to see it and eat our lunch here. After that we visited the American cemetery, where over 9,000 American soldiers are buried. All those white crosses so perfectly lined up right next to the Atlantic Ocean - what a sight. We also stopped to see some German bunkers that are still standing and contain their large guns that were capable of shooting some 12 miles. Our last stop of the WWII sites was seeing the remainder of the harbor that was built in order to receive supplies to the area after the D-Day attack. We ended the night by arriving at our very quaint hotel in Bayeux and had a delicious supper at a bed and breakfast just down the road.
• This morning we started off the day by eating breakfast again at the previously mentioned bed and breakfast and then hopping on a coach bus to go towards the very edge of Normandy, to Mont Saint-Michel. Mont Saint-Michel is an old monastery built on what becomes an island whenever there is high tide. There were many steps to be climbed today! After seeing the buildings which were very castle-like, we had a chance to grab some a quick bite to eat at one of the shops and restaurants that are at the base of Saint-Michel. Many of us tried a galette - a buckwheat type of crepe that is more salty and is unique to the Normandy area. I also had a sugared crepe for dessert . .Mmm delicious! After our lunch, we also got to see the end of a marathon that was finishing on the causeway to Saint-Michel. Then we got back on a coach bus and headed back to Paris!
• This evening, Jayna, Karen, and I had supper at a wonderful Italian restaurant on Wagram Ave (one of the roads leading out from the Arc de Triumph). I'm beginning to notice just how much I love the rich, flavorful food here! Its hard to explain, its just really good! Afterwards, Jayna and I once again went to see the twinkling Eiffel Tower..we just can't get enough of it!
• Please feel free to leave comments, I would love to hear from you!!! Tomorrow is another day of class...yippee!!!

Rain Rain Go Away!

Flat Audrey and I trying to figure out the French keyboards at the school during our lunch break.

• Our first week here was beautiful sunny days and now we've been stuck in a rainy rut for a long time! This photo is a view from mine and Karen's bedroom window from a few minutes ago. Sometimes the clouds will sputter a little while other times the heavens completely open up! (Such as yesterday while leaving the Grand Palais) Which is unfortunate, because we have barely over a week left here, and there is still so much of the city I want to explore! A few of us were going to go to Montmarte/Sacre-Couer tonight to view the city lights from up on a hill, but the current rain has definitely dampened those plans! Oh I am so cunning :) Maybe tomorrow night?
• I guess other than the rain, there isn't a whole lot else to talk about considering we spent 6 hours today in class, and 8 hours total at the school. During our morning class, we focused on listening to and writing our own dialogues of conversations that could take place in shops. This includes vocab of clothing, sizes, numbers, comparisons, greetings, and so on.. We've been working really hard on pronunciation in our morning class; today we practiced a lot of different kinds of liaisons (basically slurring the ending of one word with the beginning of the next). In our afternoon class, we worked more on writing and giving directions in French and then watched a few short films ("un court-metrage" in French). Titled "Paris: Je t'aime," (Paris, I love you), these shorts films presented all sorts of different situations somewhere in the city which we watched and then discussed and filled out worksheets about them. They were quite humourous!
• Tomorrow brings us a day of morning class, then a free afternoon, then an evening tour of The Louvre! During our free time, I hope to visit two different photo exhibits that I read about in a magazine that are currently on display and also grab some lunch. One of the exhibits is war photography from three different recent wars, which caught my eye after visiting Les Invalides the other day. The other exhibit is a photographer's work of capturing the city of Paris, minus any idea of tourists. This description really appealed to me because not long after we got here I realized that when I am taking photos of any of the monuments or places we go, I've challenged myself at times to get as few tourists in them as possible. I'm doing pretty good so far, but some things such as the mosh pit in The Hall of Mirrors at Versailles are somewhat inevitable. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to these two photo shows!
• And looking forward some more, this weekend brings us a group excursion to Normandy!

Afternoon Delight!

Reading up a little on the Andy Warhol exhibtion in the park with my sidekick Flat Audrey :)

Something makes me feel like we're not in Paris anymore!

Corey, myself, and Jayna with our usual mid-morning Coca-Cola! Only here it is a lot sweeter because it is made with real sugar!

• We had a picnic in the park this afternoon! After our 3 hours of class this morning I mailed my postcards (finally!) and got a crepe with egg..Mmmm! Then the group met at Bois de Boulogane, a huge park on the west of Paris. It almost didn't feel like we were in the city anymore! We had a picnic of baguettes, ham, many kinds of cheeses, apples, sausage, pate, and more! We read, journaled, and chatted while we sat there enjoying the afternoon together. Then a few of us rented bikes (with front baskets!) to go explore this huge park! There were trails all over the place, some paved, some a little more primative. We road around somewhat aimlessly for awhile, which was a super nice change from the directiveness of Metro stations! We saw a lake and some ponds, and even a swan!
• Last night as we were finishing supper my host dad handed me these two little pieces of metal that were intertwined...you know, one of those little puzzle things you have to pull apart? Well, it really made me laugh because this is totally something my own dad back home loves (right Dad?) and just because my host dad always makes me laugh no matter what. I couldn't get the first one apart; in fact I am still working on it. He gave me another one, this one looked a lot more complicated and I had it solved in about 2 minutes. I took it out to show it to him, then he ended up grabbing a whole box of these puzzles from the cupboard! Now I've got something other than my blogging, homework, and photos to distract me! (not to mention this gorgeous city!)
• After our picnic and bike ride through the park, I ventured off to the Grand Palais to see an Andy Warhol exhibition! Which was really exciting, it was awesome to see all those works in person. Sometimes the sheer size (or lack thereof) is the part that surprises me the most! The only disappointment came from no photos being allowed (which is definitely understandable, but still disappointing to me!). If you ever have a chance to see this marvelous collection of pop art, I recommend it! It was totally worth 8 Euros and then a run in the pouring rain to the Metro stop afterwards! I also bought a book about the gallery show the other day (written in French of course) and have been reading it to learn more about Andy Warhol and to work on my comprehension skills!
• 6 hours of class tomorrow...Oh I cannot wait!

Nothing like a Napoleon Monday!

• This rainy Monday morning we had three hours of class once again. We focused a lot on "real" conversation skills and our prof was working on teaching us the more "normal" ways of saying common phrases. The French language very much flows, things all sort of run together, so normal pronunciation is very important for our new skills to actually be usable! We do a lot of partner work and she always moves us around in class so that we are not with another person that knows English well, forcing us to work even harder on our French, but in a good way!
• During our mid-class break, my "Flat Audrey" (a paper version of my roommate who is back in Iowa who has been traveling all over Paris with me) caught the eye of the guy next to me in class who is from Taiwan. He was curious as to what this little paper doll was doing in my folder so I explained it to him! This turned into an interesting conversation because he was under the impression that all American students have their own rooms and was surprised to find out that back at home I actually live with 3 other students! He was also very interested in my major (Communication Design) because he works in the marketing department of Proctor and Gamble back in Taiwan. I was impressed by his great English skills!
• Speaking of speaking, conversations here are always entertaining. They often tend to be a mix of French, English, sometimes Spanish with lots of hand signals thrown in! Verbal communication is just so much more dynamic when there are all these different cultures and languages to confuse things! But its fun, I'm learning so much more about English too!
• Then this afternoon, our group visited Les Invalides, which was built by Napoleon as a military hospital, which it is still partially used as today (since that was the purpose). There were so many war artifacts! But reading the poorly translated English was a lot of fun. The cathedral was very impressive, you can tell that Napoleon had no problems with his ego.
• I found out today that the Grand Palais is currently showing Andy Warhol! I bought a book about his work today and plan on going soon to see this display! (plus it gives me more motivation to keep on learning French, seeing as it is written in French!) I'm very excited! Please feel free to leave comments on here so that I can hear what you all think about my adventures thus far!

Le Week-end

• We didn't have any structured activities planned for this weekend which was nice, at least for me to relax a little and breath! Karen and I were even doing laundry today and I cleaned up our room a little! Some people visited the Catacombs this morning but I decided to sleep in instead!
• I spent most of today sitting by the Seine River, right next to the Louvre, people watching and playing cards with Jayna. Prior to that we wandered through Notre Dame, which is incredible! This cathedral is the epitome of Gothic architecture! I had the chance to see it a few years ago when I was in Paris on a band/choir trip, but it was still majestic a second time! Its hard to take something that large and incredible all in at once but we managed. And the best part about this visit was that it was free! Free is always good! (especially when 1 Euro equals about $1.30 American).
• I am very much addicted to the Coca Cola here! It always comes in a thick glass bottle and it is so much sweeter than the Coke we have in the US. I want to bring a bunch back with me! Though I've noticed that while I've been here I don't drink nearly as much milk, water, or sports drinks as I do back home. I had milk tonight with my bowl of cereal; its a tradition for my host family to eat breakfast foods for supper on Sunday nights! Its actually been a pretty quiet weekend around here though because my host mom and host brother have been gone!
• Well, tomorrow is another day of class and a visit to Les Invalides!
• (Oh, and all the photos I put up here are mine by the way, they aren't just taken from Google or something like that!)

Friday at Versailles

• Sorry I haven't written in a few days..we've been busy! On Thursday, we had 6 hours of class again, goodness are those long days! Especially when the sun was shining so gloriously and we were stuck in a classroom! I have three different professors that teach our class, and so far my afternoon "lumberjack" prof was my favorite. (He was wearing a flannel shirt and had a beard so that's how he got his nickname from us!) He was my favorite prof though because he speaks a little bit more slowly so that we can actually understand him! As I said before, all our instruction is given in French, so you have to be listening carefully and making sure you understand all the directions! Its really fun though, I think we are learning a lot more because of the intense exposure. During our break from noon to 2, I got lunch from the school's "cafeteria" - basically a little deli bar you can buy food at, and sat in the courtyard to eat, chat with everyone else, write in my journal, and write out postcards! I even got a little bit of a sunburn.
• Yesterday was our day at Versailles! I have to admit, I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be! (I also didn't take as many photos as I thought I was going to..) We had a tour through the palace then spent the afternoon wandering through the gardens. Jayna and I relaxed a bit down by a "pond" where there were lots of ducks! It is really cool to say that I've napped in the gardens of Versailles! :) The fountains all came on at 3:30, so that was fun to see. And they had music playing to set the mood. I could just imagine past kings and queens wandering around the grounds!
• We have a free weekend these next two days (as in no officially planned group activities). A bunch of us are meeting this afternoon to see the catacombs, which should be an interesting visit! Other than that, I'm not sure what else is in store for me this weekend! Probably some shopping!

Lots of thinking!

• This afternoon we visited The Rodin Museum and saw the Thinker! I finally decided to put a photo on here with people in it (other than myself..haha). This photo is of our group listening to our guide Edith, in the garden area of The Rodin Museum by the original Thinker. (Several others like it exist in various parts of the world and even at this museum, but this is the ONE.) Visiting an art museum today was a nice change up from all the historical museums and places we've visited. Though I am really looking forward to our trip to Versailles on Friday! That is one place I've wanted to visit for a very long time... But first I have to get through 6 hours of class tomorrow, it will be an experience.
• Speaking of class, it was our second day of class this morning! And let me tell you, 9 am is a bit early to be thinking and conversing and learning vocabulary of another language! But I am feeling more and more confident, which is very exciting. (My English is also failing me more and more!) We did some worksheets, group work, and listened to a dialogue. Our class is intense, I know that I am learning a lot and its only been two days! Compared to classes in the US, we move much more quickly and the professors most definitely have more power (in a good way) over the students. Also, a huge difference I've noticed is that very little English, or other languages, are spoken in the classroom by the prof or students..which adds to the level of intensity. But I like it, I'm glad to be learning while I am here!
• Not quite as good as the tuba story from yesterday, but as we were walking down the street today after class, a French man rode by on his bike wearing headphones and was singing out loud "Womanizer." Oh goodness, that quite possibly made my day!
• After the museum tour today, lots of us sat in the museum's gardens by a fountain and sculptures and worked on our homework, journaling, and writing out postcards. When we got a little chilly a few of us went to a cafe and continued writing and chatting. Now I'm back at our apartment hoping to have a chance to go through the 1000+ photos I have from barely a week here!

Twinkling, deuxieme fois!

• Translation: Twinkling, second time! Once again, we went to see the Eiffel Tower tonight and it was just as magnificent as the first time we saw it (only we were able to contain ourselves a little better!) We just sat on a bench and stared at it for awhile; we especially adore it when it twinkles! The little twinkling lights are like sprinkles on a cake, but better!
• Today was our first "real" day of class (in addition to our museum and monument visits) and we were all a little nervous of the unexpected. Yesterday we took a placement test at the school in order for them to judge our French language comprehension. We had class from 9-12 this morning and from 2-5 this afternoon. Some of us were placed in the incorrect level of our current instruction and changed classes; it seems as though most students have their class figured out by now.
• I am so excited to be learning more French! I love the language and wish I could understand more and express myself better using it. If you've ever heard someone speaking French, I think you might agree with me. Just from class today, I came back to my apartment and felt much more confident in trying to speak with my host family in French. I've decided that knowing a lot of the little things such as "ok" and "what is that?" and "I don't know" are very helpful and make even rocky conversations a little more understandable on both sides.
• One thing I have realized of Paris is that with the exception of the Metro, I never truly feel as though I am indoors. Most windows completely open either towards or away from you, many of these windows are floor to ceiling or at the very least quite large, and most are lacking screens! Plus, the open air cafes are my favorite to sit at and enjoy the company of my friends. I also can never say no to a fresh crepe from a street vendor! Nutella et banane est mon favori!

• Yesterday we had the chance to visit the Cluny Museum with Edith, our guide. We saw many original items from Notre Dame, including the heads of the statues of the Kings of Judah that were dismantled and buried in a garden for many years. We also saw several original pieces of stained glass from Saint Chapelle, which we visited two days ago. It was beautiful!
• Tomorrow we have morning class again and in the afternoon we are visiting The Rodin Museum, which has impressive gardens that showcase many statues, including "The Thinker."
• I've decided I don't want to leave Paris! I've adapted to the city life surprisingly well, coming from a high school class of 8! (at least I'd say) Riding the Metro is always interesting; the street performers are usually my favorite part - I've see people playing accordion, saxophone, and even a tuba while riding the Metro! I wonder what else this marvelous city has in store? We will see!

Twinkling, not sparkling!

I just got back from seeing the Eiffel Tower at night for the first time and it was breathtaking! I met Jayna at my Metro stop and then we met Corey at another stop right across the river from the Tower. It was really funny because we first got off the Metro and then consulted a map to see if we could figure out the best direction to go. However, we couldn't find the streets on our map exactly so we just decided to cross this bridge that looked somewhat promising. And then we saw it! Jayna and I freaked out just a little; I'm sure you would as well because it is a spectactular sight! We plan to go back and visit it again in the evening! At night it is always lit up, but on the hour it twinkles for 5 minutes. Currently it is malfunctioning and is twinkling every 20 minutes or so. We were informed of this from two American women that were also there taking in the view. (Odd, but it was kind of nice to have an extended conversation in English with people not in our group!) This was definitely an experience of a life time - something I've always wanted to see. I think its beginning to hit me that I am in Paris, but I'm not quite sure yet.

• The formatting on this site is not quite working the way I want it to, so please bear with me. And I apologize for my eariler post, it was time to go eat supper.
• Tonight's supper was most definitely entertaining. I am trying to use more and more of my developing French skills and can feel myself becoming more confident in stringing together somewhat coherent sentences. My downfall now is a lack of vocabulary, which is growing every day!
• Tomorrow morning we start school and I'm very excited! But now it is time for bed on my cozy cushion foam of delight on the top bunk of a bed in an apartment located just a few blocks north of the Arc de Triumph!

03 Mai 2009 18h55

Nothing like the reflection of The Eiffel Tower in my sunglasses :) The title of this post is how we write the date and time here! I'm working harder and harder on my French skills everyday, I just love being surrounded by such a beautiful language! Even though I may not always understand what is being said, it is still very enjoyable. I'm even finding my English skills are starting to fail, which is a good sign to me! Hopefully what I am writing still makes sense though! Sorry this is really short, but it is supper time!

Bonjour Paris!

Me excited to see Notre Dame (again)! Hello from Paris! Well, we made it! After an 8 hour flight across several time zones, our plane touched down in Paris around 8:30 this morning, the start of a very long day. We all got a good first experience of Paris' public transportation systems, all while lugging around all our suitcases for the month! (And trust us, not all Metro stations are equipped with escalators!) Our group then split up to each go our own ways to find our homestays for the month. Karen and I eventually found our apartment building after a bit of an adventure wandering Parisian streets. We settled in, freshened up a bit, then left to take the Metro to Notre Dame to meet the rest of the group. Our group took a little bit of a walking tour, led by Jenna, in the area around Notre Dame. Afterwards, some of us experienced the joys of buying an international cell phone, all while speaking to the workers in French! I then got to experience my first homestay dinner. There were many misunderstandings but also a lot of laughs (the good kind)! Dessert was excellent - rhubarb for Karen, rice pudding for me. Our host family is wonderful, this upcoming month will be a lot of fun with them I'm sure! Tomorrow our group is going to get to know the city a little bit better and maybe the city will even get to know us! We start classes on Monday at the university..and my head is already spinning with French!

Chicago!

Well, we've made it to Chicago successfully, so our journey is about to begin! I've got 20 minutes of free Wi-Fi here, now that I've watched a video about the Hyatt Hotel. Jenna, our student adviser, gave us maps of where we will be living and we have planned out our initial Metro rides (from our homestays to the university). It definitely still has not hit me that I am about to fly to Paris to spend a month there. And actually, I'm not sure if it will until we are actually there and get settled into our homestays. I am very excited for all the new experiences I will have! There are 17 of us total going on this May Term to Paris. Dr. David Hagan is our professor, Jenna Peterson is our student adviser, and Karen Summerson will be my Parisian roomie. Well in approx. 9 hours we will be landing in Paris, something I have been looking forward to all year! Goodbye Chicago, Bonjour Paris!