One more thing.

I finally found a to-go coffee mug, so I can be economically smart and take my second (and third) cup of coffee with me in the morning instead of stopping in various cafes and ordering double espressos throughout the day.  The only problem? The only place (and I mean the ONLY place) they are sold in Paris is in Starbuck's, and the only ones they had either said "France" with a picture of the Eiffel Tower, or they said "Paris" with a picture of the Eiffel Tower. So, not only am I instantly labeled as an American as I carry my coffee mug around with me on the metro and the streets (Parisians are not into the to-go concept.  In their minds, you must sit and order your coffee and you drink it there. Take it in a cardboard cup? Oh, the horror!) but I am labeled as a really lame American tourist who actually buys and uses a to-go mug with the city's name on it.  It's the equivalent of wearing an "I <3 New York" t-shirt in the middle of Manhatten.
I have, however, come to terms with the increased amount of staring my really stupid to-go mug brings.  I don't care.  I have a huge, steaming mug of coffee to distract me.

I ought to be doing homework, but I am unclear as to what the assignment actually is.

The problem with having classes that are all in French is that sometimes I don't really know what's going on.  I understand the words that are coming out of the professor's mouth, but somewhere along the way I missed who the "she" is that we are talking about and now have no idea who we are discussing...sometimes it's a non issue because I can just smile and nod along, but other times it's a big issue.  Like when I am supposed to write a one-page reaction to something-and I'm not entirely certain what I ought to be reacting to. Then the whole language-barrier thing really rears its ugly head.
Oh well.  Such is the life of an exchange student and the poor professors who have to deal with me.
This weekend I went to the Musee Rodin (Rodin Museum) where the original "Le Penseur" (The Thinker) is. I really enjoyed this museum- Rodin's sculpture is so different from what I've been seeing in the cathedrals and other art museums.  It's much more lifelike and passionate, instead of just posed religious or mythological figures.

I followed it up with my first visit to the Eiffel Tower! I didn't climb up yet- I am working myself up to it in baby steps.  I would very much like to see the view from the top, but am not sure if I will be able to make it all the way up.  So I've decided to take it one level at a time, starting with my favorite level-the ground.

 

On Friday afternoon, I took myself to the Musee de la Moyen Age (Middle Ages Museum) and spent a nice afternoon discovering the art of France's Middle Ages.

 All the museums in France are in buildings that ought to be in museums themselves.

Wooden Jesus-almost all the art from this period had something to do with Christianity.  It was interesting to me though that the subjects of their paintings, carvings, tapestries etc almost looked like cartoon characters.  Something about the way they depicted the faces...

This is just some of the girls from my program, out for happy hour-just to prove I am making friends.

This weekend will find me in Provence.  I have heard rumblings that it might actually be warm there, which will be a welcome change from the gray, cold, cloudiness that is Paris in February.

Yay.

I learned how to tie my scarf the "French" way, and I have finally found where they sell the half-size baguettes so I don't have to buy the big ones and have the second half get rock hard by the next morning.  I had a full conversation in French with the girl sitting next to me in grammar, and a woman asked me today if she was taking the right train to get to the airport-aka, I totally looked like a Parisian to her.  Granted, she probably wasn't Parisian herself, and therefore might think everyone looks like one, but it made me feel good anyway.  And finally, I figured out what the word for tuna fish is. Without looking it up.
Go me.

Try this one instead

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=336432&id=689395866&l=0a2295adb2

 

Try this link if you weren't able to access my pics with the first one. Sorry about that.

Notre Dame and Versailles

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=336432&id=689395866&saved#!/album.php?aid=336432&id=689395866

Latest pics- Notre Dame and Versailles! I put captions on most of them, so I'm not going to rewrite it all here.

I went to lunch today after Versailles, and had one of the best meals yet.  Pasta, wine, and some kind of caramel ice-cream thing to end....so good.  I'm having to force myself not to immediately take a nap, and rather do my homework like a good girl.   It's pretty hard.

Am in the process of planning trips to Milan, Barcelona, somewhere in southern Italy, Ireland, and Greece! I'm a very lucky girl.

Recent pics

Cheese tasting with API-I now know which cheeses come from the mountains/valleys/goats/cows/which ones take 18 mo to make...

I very much enjoyed this activity :)

The view out of my skylight straight across the way

The view from my skylight looking right (towards Paris proper) I'm so close to the city that I can see the light on the Eiffel Tower at night

That window leads to the stairs going down in my apartment building...the skylight you can barely see on the left is the kitchen windown in my apartment

Bedroom in my host family's country house

Little library at the top of the stairs...books in Czech, English, and French

The fireplace...nothing like it when there's no central heat!

Outside the house

It was a prettier sunset in person...

My host brother and sister-they're so patient when talking to me, and answer all my stupid questions (example: "Um, how do you say 45?")

classes? check.

I finally have my schedule all worked out, and know all my classes. Such a relief! The system here for signing up for classes is a little funky-it's all done in person, and the sign-up time for one thing often overlaps with another class already in session, and you have to wait in lines that go on for days...but it's over! My days shall look a little something like this:
Sunday: return from whatever country I decided to visit over the weekend, eat dinner with my host family
Monday: 9:30-10:30 am Phonetics
               11:30am-2:00pm Grammar
Tuesday: 9:30 -10:30 am Phonetics
               11:30-2:00 Grammar
               2:00-4:00 French Art History
Wednesday: 10-12 La France et La Europe (France and Europe)
Thursday: 9:30 -10:30 am Phonetics
               11:30-2:00 Grammar
Friday: 9:30 -10:30 am Phonetics
               11:30-2:00 Grammar
And, phonetics is only every other week-so it starts next Monday, and goes all week, but then the next week we don't have it.  And so on, for the rest of the semester.
And, technically, I should have Phonetics on Wednesdays as well, but apparently here it is totally normal to skip a day of class when another class conflicts.  You would think they would just schedule classes to start either all on the hour, or on the half hour, so nothing conflicts, but then that would just be too simple.
Like I said, the system is a little funny...
Going back to my weekend. Ihad a very enjoyable time in the country with my host brother and sister. There was a little bit of rain, but other than that it stayed at a pretty steady 50 degrees or so with a little sun here and there.  We sat in front of the fire, went on a bike ride, took walks, played cards, played badminton, and cooked real French food (lots of cheese, bread, grilled skewers over the fire...)
and I got to know my host family a little better.  Glad I went.
I'm in the process of uploading some pics, give me about 30 minutes and they'll be up.

First day of class

I had my first class today-2 and a half hours of grammar.  Straight.  And I have it every day from now until the end of the semester...I am either going to get reallyyyyy good at grammar or want to die-the jury's still out. I got placed in Intermediate,  I managed to keep up today

It was gorgeous today though, 65 and sunny, and I spent some time just wandering around. (Partly because I was a little unsure of where the bookstore I was looking for was, and partly because it was nice out) Now I'm trying to get my homework done before I leave to go to my host family's house outside of Paris with my host brother and sister for the weekend.  I'm excited to see a little more of France, besides just the city.

Link to Paris pictures

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=332680&id=689395866&l=6d814c4971

I believe if you click on the above link it will take you to my album of Paris pictures.  I've never done this before so let me know if it doesn't work.

 

Also, I thought it might be interesting to make a list of things that I am finding odd or difficult, so when I'm all adjusted and Parisian in four months I can look back and remember that it wasn't always perfect and wonderful :) So here goes...

• The toilets have wierd flushers and I can never seem to do it right.   Seems like a simple thing, right? It's not.
• There are no giant superstores with everything in one place. You have to search out a specific store  for every little thing you want.
• IT'S SO EXPENSIVE HERE.
• The keys are very complicated, and turn in the wrong direction.
• Bars/clubs open very very late (like midnight).
• Everything is small.  The rooms, the seats, the stores, the cars, the metro...I've never felt so crowded for so long.
• I can't smile or say hi to random people on the street.  They look at you like you're nuts if you smile.
• A lot of people do not shower often enough.
• IT'S SO EXPENSIVE HERE.
• I can't identify what anything is in the supermarket.
• There is no peanut butter.
• The shower is not a shower.  It is a bathtub with a handheld showerhead and no curtain.
• The catcalls.  French men think it's acceptable to just yell things at you on the street, and you have to completely ignore them, as if they don't exist, or they will follow you, continuing to talk to you. And most of the time they are the ones who don't shower enough.
• IT'S SO EXPENSIVE HERE

With all that being said, I also feel obligated to say that while it seems like I hate everything and am miserable, I really am not. All of these things are just minor annoyances.  Some of them aren't even really annoyances, they are just taking some getting used to.  And while there are several things I am not a huge fan of, there are just as many that I love. For example:

• The cheese.  There is so much of it here and it is so. good.
• The metro.  I don't have to drive anywhere, ever.  Public transportation was the best idea anyone ever had.
• The excess of restaurants and cafes.  And the fact that your waiters let you sit there as long as you want.
• You don't have to tip. It's great.
• Les Soldes.  The entire country has sales from January 1-Feb 15.  You don't have to search them out- they all are on sale at the same time!
• My host family.  They are so nice. And both my host dad and brother play guitar extremely well, so it's great to just hear them messing around while in my room or eating or whatever.
• The nightlife-there is always something to do! And as unfriendly as people are on the metro/on the street/in stores, they are the exact opposite when in a bar.  I've met so many random people.
• The open-air markets.  They have such great stuff.

I'm sure I could continue, but I think I've made  a pretty good summary.  I'll look back every now and then and see if any of these things have switched lists :)

first week

So I am all moved into my host family's apartment, and I have been in Paris now for almost a week...things are going well. I have the metro figured out, I know the code to my host family's apartment building, and I've found the supermarket.  Still not sure where to find a loofah, but I have managed to find the essentials.
It really is harder than one would think to buy things here...I mean, clothes are easy.  But everything else? Kind of complicated.  They have so many little specialty stores, so they have everything you could ever want, but you have to find it first.  For example, I have been in 2 different supermarkets (food), a pharmacy (really expensive products), a parfumerie (strictly perfume), a kind of odds and ends store (it seemed to be a mix between TJ Maxx and Big Lots, but had really random stuff. not what I expected ), an electronics store (which sells all electronics, from curling irons to stoves to Ipads), and a thrift store and have yet to figure out where the French buy their picture frames.  Or loofahs.
One of the girls in my program is also from Pittsburgh, and also a vegetarian, so that has been very nice when eating out-I'm not the only wierd one who doesn't eat meat.
The whole time I've been here we've been having orientation-type stuff with API.  We have had academic orientation, cultural, housing, you name it. I also took my placement test at the end of last week, and will find out my level and my classes on Thursday.
 We've also gotten to go on several tours- we took a boat tour of the Seine, as kind of an overview of Paris, we had a brief tour of the Louvre, and took a walking tour of Montmartre (where the Sacre Coeur cathedral is).  All of these tours suggest a hundred new things to go visit, so my list of activities is getting kind of long!
Tomorrow we have a Musee d'Orsay tour, and then we're going ice-skating, and Wednesday we have a tour of the catacombs (not sure exactly which ones...)
My host family is really really nice.  They are all speaking French to me, and are very patient with my terrible responses.  I asked them to correct me when I make mistakes, so hopefully I will improve soon.  They are all fluent in English, however, as the father is Czech and the mom is French, so when they met they spoke their common language of English to one another.  It's nice, because when I don't know a word, I can just say it in English and they can tell me what it is in French. 
The father and son both play guitar extremely well, and it's very nice to have a live concert every now and then as I'm sitting in my room :)
All in all, things are going well.