So it's been a while...

So we went to Montmartre... yea... pretty sketchy if you ask me. The first guy asked how much, the second guy offered us weed, and the third guy followed us back to the metro station. Just glad I wasn't alone. The Sacre Coeur at night is gorgeous though and totally worth it.

Friday we finally got our Louvre passes. So now we can go all the time. Tous les jours, bien sur! And we had a speed tour. That's always fun. At least it was better than the 20 minutes we got there in high school (oh, Kelly... it'll be great when you get here).

Then I spent the afternoon freaking out about what courses to take. Monique recommended a course on urban development... which, you know, I never thought I would ever consider, but I'm getting a little desperate. So now I'm feeling like it's probably a great idea. We'll see. I'll find some other options soon, too.

Then we went out to dinner and dancing! Dinner was fabulous. And friends are great. Then we wandered to find cheap wine and/or happy hours. We sort of succeeded. We ended up in this oddly shaped cave with too many bright lights and a terrible DJ with French boys who refused to dance with us. But whatever, it was cool. We started the dance party... as usual.



The next morning we left en train for Normandie. Well... most of us. Except for Sophia. She missed the train. Haha. She had to take the next one two hours later... eek! Most of us slept the whole way there, so it was pretty necessary. Then we were starving when we woke up, and we scarfed down whatever they gave us. We toured Caen, and then we took a bus to the Bayeux Tapestry. It wasn't as long as I remembered... so that was nice. And we ate un petit gouter at a patisserie. Then we ate again. Then we drank again. (We eat and drink a lot.) It was... how shall I put this?... a great Saturday night.

The next morning we went to the American cemetery and Pointe du Hoc and some random castle and Omaha Beach. Lots of information... in French, of course, so you know, I didn't understand most of it. But it was good times.




I crashed when I got home, and French class again the morning was just absolute torture. I don't even remember what we did. And our lecture on French politics this afternoon was equally as boring and uninformative and waaay too freaking long. They never put end times in our orientation schedule, which is a really terrible thing.

Then I went home and cried and slept. But I did watch the news again tonight, and I actually got the gist of every segment. That was pretty sweet. And I read some of Le Figaro. Tres interessant. Then I went back out to Saint Michel avec mes amies, and we found a cute little cafe. 'Twas nice. The best part was when we entered:

Waitress: Cinq?
Us: Oui.
Waitress: Huit?
Us: Cinq.

(Translation for those who don't speak French:
Waitress: Five?
Us: Yes.
Waitress: Eight?
Us: Five)

Do you get why? Do you get why? It's funny cuz 'oui' and 'huit' sound similar. Hahaha.

So done.



Anyway, tomorrow... guess what? More French class! We have a test! Yes, in our orientation program. We have to write... lame, right? This will probably go terribly wrong, but I guess that'll be the exciting thing to my morning. Then a tour of the Quartier Latin. Good times.

Today at dinner my host father started asking me about my day, and I couldn't remember what I did this morning. I just stared at him blankly until he said "trop de francais? pas de probleme." (Translation: too much French? don't worry.)

So yea... that's the joy in my life right now.