So It Has Been a While...

So the last point I left you at it was September 11, 2011 and I was going to go to the park by my foyer which is called Parc Monceau.  I will give you a recap on what happened that following week and try to get you all up to date on my life here in Paris. 

Dimanche le 11 septembre 2011:

So I went to Parc Monceau which is a park not far from my foyer and it was amazing!  I went all by myself and had no troubles finding it.  I fell in love at Parc Monceau…with Paris again.  Before this point I was not so impressed with life here and not enjoying things.  However, when I walked into the park it was a breath of fresh air.  Everything was so green and lush because it had just rained.  The flowers were so vibrant and the air had that smell of fall and right after it rains.  I just strolled around the park while lots of joggers zoomed past me.  I got to one entry way into the park and I saw the Arc de Triomphe!!  It was just a stone’s throw away from this park!!  It blew me away and that was when I realized I am living here for a year and am in an awesome location!  I know that I will be frequenting that park often!  I decided to sit on a bench and people watch but then it started to rain.  It didn’t really bother me in the least.  I ran to find cover from the rain under a building in the park and was huddling there with many other park goers.  It seemed like it was never going to let up so I decided to walk back to my foyer.  I did have my raincoat on but I still have yet to buy an umbrella!  I found it fun running from awning to awning on store fronts to stay somewhat dry.  It didn’t help that much because when I got back I looked all wet like in Breakfast at Tiffany’s when Audrey is looking for cat.  But it was so much fun and brought me out of my funk.

Lundi le 12 septembre 2011:

Today I got up and got ready for class which included going and buying a baguette at the local boulangerie.  I took the metro with Lily to class and got there in time.  Class went fine, nothing exciting to report there.  Once class finished at 1pm I went to the CROUs, which is the student cafeteria, with a bunch of people from the program.  It was super confusing as to how it worked.  We thought we needed to buy tickets so that we could get our food but I asked this guy that worked there and he said we just pay after we get our food.  The food was rather good and I can get a lot of food for only 3.05€!  That is not bad at all!  Of course, the bread is free!  That is so French!  After lunch Angela, a girl on the program who is also staying for the year, and I walked around the neighborhood before going to our orientation at the Central office.  We stopped in this one cute little store and there was this homeless man who wanted to buy incense but the store owners were saying that he doesn’t need to buy it.  They were asking him if he was going to burn it in the street.  It was kind of strange.  This homeless man kept insisting that he had to have it so they let him buy it since he had enough money.  We then left the store and headed to orientation.  It was so much information and not very exciting.  We then went on a Bateaux Mouches ride which is a boat ride on the Seine.  We went as a program and it was a lot of fun but there were so many tourists!  There is always some random persons’ head in my picture but there is nothing I can do about that.  Afterwards, I went shopping with Angela and she found a bag/purse to carry her books in for class since Parisiens don’t really carry backpacks.  I then took the metro home all by myself for the first time!  I was super nervous about it and thought I would get lost but I had no issues and made it back easily.  For dinner I ate with two French girls in my foyer who seem really nice.  I then worked on homework and just hung out.

Mardi le 13 septembre 2011:

Today I took the bus to school.  This bus goes from my foyer to school and I don’t have to change bus lines or anything!  I have to walk about 15 minutes to get to the bus stop but that is not a big deal.  I asked Lily if she wanted to join me at 9am to take the bus to school but she wasn’t ready so I took the bus all by myself!  I was so nervous the whole ride there that I was going the wrong way but it was fine!  I love taking the bus to school because I get to sit down unlike on the metro because it is not that crowded.  Also I get to see the Madeline, Place de la Concorde, L’Obelisk, L’Arc de Triomphe, La Tour Eiffel, et L’Assemblée Nationale.  In just one bus ride!  It is amazing and so easy to take!  I got to school a half an hour early but I would rather be early than late!  I had class and then went to CROUs for lunch.  Angela and I then went and walked around le Jardin de Luxembourg before going to orientation.  It was so much fun to walk around and see another beautiful garden.  Then we went to orientation and watched some funny videos about how to seduce people, so we can realize if someone is trying to pick us up.  It was rather funny and dumb!  Afterwards, I went back to the foyer and showed Lily where Parc Monceau was.  We sat on the grass even though I don’t think it is allowed but a bunch of other people were sitting on the grass.  She took a nap and I “worked” on homework (and actually finished it) but mostly people watched.  I then showed her where you could see the Arc de Triomphe from the park.  We then went back to the foyer and I had dinner and just hung out.

Mercredi le 14 septembre 2011:

So I went to class today and took the bus and I saw the bus sitting at the stop so I started running across the busy street when the sign said I could walk.  I had my big old backpack and it was bouncing around and I probably looked like a ridiculous tourist chasing after a bus so the bus driver waited for me and let me on.  It was very nice of him!  I had class and then went to the CROUs for lunch but had to be back at 2pm since we had our atelier (it is an extra class to work on more specific stuff).  Having only an hour for lunch is NOT long enough!!!  One needs at least an hour and a half!  It takes a while to get there because I have to take the bus and then I have to wait in line and get my food, then I have to find a spot to eat at and then I have to snarf down my food in about 15 minutes because then I have to catch the bus again for the atelier at 2pm!  After the atelier, which makes for a long day of French, Angela and I went to the Louvre!  It was so awesome because we did not have to wait in line for very long and with our French student ids we get to go into any national museum for free!!!  Now that is super cool!!  I think I will be going to the Louvre on rainy days since it doesn’t cost me a penny and there is so much to see there!  We spent about an hour in the Louvre and we saw La Jaconde, which is the Mona Lisa!  I have seen it before from previous trips but I never got to get up close to it because there were always hoards of people!  I got to go up to the little railing and get a picture of it!  That was really exciting.  I then went back to my foyer and did homework and ate dinner.  It is hard making friends here in France because at my foyer everyone speaks French very well and I am still learning.  Also a lot of them have been here for quite some time so they already have their groups of friends.  It is also a lot harder to make small talk in a language that I am still trying to learn!  It is very discouraging not having really made any friends but hopefully as the year progresses I will find at least a few French friends that I can hang out with.

Jeudi le 15 septembre 2011:

I ate breakfast with one of those girls that I had dinner with the other day and we had a nice chat but I then had to head off to class.  Today was a difficult day to concentrate in class, my head was elsewhere but that is alright.  I went to the CROUs as usual for lunch and it was good as usual.  Today I took the bus home after eating lunch and it was fine.  I wasted time not doing much and then got a text from Emily asking if I wanted to join her and others to the Musée D’Orsay.  I hadn’t done my homework yet and did something that is so unlike myself…I skipped doing my homework to go the museum!  But it was so worth it!  I got there and it was me, Angela, and Emily.  We got to get into the Musée D’Orsay for free with our student ids.  The museum has changed so much since the last time I was there!  It seems like a completely different building!  I was super bummed because you are not allowed to take any pictures in the museum.  That was no fun but I guess it kept me from being behind my camera the whole time and look at the pictures with my own two eyes.  We saw a lot of statutes and spent about 2 hours there.  We also saw the Impressionism area and I LOVE that area of the museum!  It is all artists that I know and appreciate and was so cool to see!  I also saw some paintings by Alfred Sisley!!!!  I was so excited about that because I did a project on him in French during high school.  I got to see some of the paintings that I talked about in my report in real life so that was amazing!  I then went home and had dinner with a girl from China, she was very nice.  I also worked on homework and just hung out.

Vendredi le 16 septembre 2011:

So I went to class and it was fine except it was hard to concentrate towards the end even though the class is interesting.  It is just so long despite the fact that the professor gives us a five minute break to walk around and have a snack and get out of the classroom for a bit.  I then went to the CROUs with Angela for lunch and we ate with this French guy who was very nice.  We then headed back to Ecole Etoile for our atelier.  It was exhausting being in French class for 5 ½ hours and French can be hard but I still love it and want to speak it fluently!  After class Angela and I went to le Jardin de Luxembourg and had some wine and bread and cheese.  It was really nice because we just sat in the chairs there and relaxed and talked.  When the park closed at 7pm we went back to her foyer which is about 5 minutes away and hung out there.  We went to the terrace and it has an amazing view of the city!!  We watched the sunset and talked some more then Lauren and Emily from the program joined up with us and this girl from the foyer who is also from the States came and sat with us.  It was a nice evening.  I went back to my foyer at 10pm because they were going to go to the Seine but I didn’t want to be out too late by myself taking the metro especially since I had to go through Les Halles and that is a super sketchy place to be at night and can be really creepy.  When I got back my roommate, Perrine, and I talked in French about all different kinds of things and then I went to bed.

Samedi le 17 septembre 2011:

So today was one of those days that was filled with many worries and issues and whatnot.  So I didn’t get great sleep the night before so that may be why I was overreacting a little to things but living abroad is not always easy.  It is hard being on your own having to create a budget and make decisions on your own.  Also learning another language can be hard and discouraging at times.  It feels as if my French is not improving and like I am never going to get this language down and be able to speak it fluently!!  Thinking in French is something I long to do and trying to make friends in another language can be super discouraging because it seems at this rate that I will never make any friends here.  I did go out and go shopping today which was fun and there were so many things that I wanted to buy but didn’t because I am trying to be wise with my money.  I also tried to do laundry today and washed my clothes but found out that dryer was broken when I tried to dry my clothes!  That was super frustrating!  It was also frustrating because the machine ate my 0.50€!!!  That is a lot of money when one is trying to keep a budget but oh well.  I then hung up my clothes around my room and worked on homework.  I decided later in the day to go check out the Laundromat that is on the next street and found out that it is open 7 days a week from 7am to 9pm so that is really good.  I took my damp clothes and threw them into a duffel bag and dried them.  I tried to get some homework done but then my family called me while I was there and talked to them so that was really nice!  It decided to start raining right when I was leaving but it was just spitting so it wasn’t horrible.  I just hung out at the foyer and went to bed.

Dimanche le 18 septembre 2011:

So today was a really fun day.  I got up and went to church with Angela by her foyer.  It was a catholic church so it was different than I am used to.  I don’t think I will go again but it was interesting to experience.  One thing I did like though was the sun light coming through the stained glass windows, it was just beautiful!  However, before we went to this church by her foyer we had a bunch of time so we went to the Panthéon.  It is right next to the church and we got to go in for free because of les journées du patrimoine.  It was very cool to go inside and take pictures!  We also got to go into the crypt and we saw where Marie Curie is buried and some other famous people!  That was really interesting and very cool to see.  At noon I headed back to my foyer because I was meeting up with Fabrice, he is French but he came to Central last year and was a language assistant and we lived in the French house together and became really good friends.  Anyways, we were going to be meeting up at 1pm to hang out for the afternoon.  I actually ran into him while getting off of the RER and changing onto the metro and it was so good to see him!  I had so much fun and it was just so easy because I could just relax and have a good time.  We stopped at my foyer and I showed him my room even though I don’t think I am technically allowed to have people in my room that don’t live in the foyer.  But nobody notice and it wasn’t that big of a deal because we were only in the foyer for like 10 minutes.  We then headed out to find somewhere to eat lunch, I was starving!!  We walked for what felt like forever and we did actually walk a lot!  We finally found a place that was open and had sandwiches.  It was rather good and not too expensive.  We talked for quite some time about all kinds of things then headed out to go to the Arc de Triomphe.  We took the RER and got to the Arc de Triomphe and it was really cool.  I took pictures of course!  We then walked around on the Champs-Elysées.  We went in some shops and just walked around.  We then went to this place called Ladurée where they sell macarons which are kinda like cookie thingys.  They are really good to say the least!  We then took the metro back to my stop and that is when we said goodbye because he had to go home.  I had such a great time because I had a friend to talk with unlike at my foyer where it can be very lonely.  I am very much looking forward to the next time Fabrice and I hang out!