So today was a bit more amusing than yesterday. Yesterday was full of academic talk... which is very clearly totally unimportant. Today was more... fun.

We had another 3-hour French class this morning... which was, you know... fine and all. Just not the most exciting thing to do your first week in Paris. But we did have fun discussing our host families. We talked about the differences in dinner conversations. Also, we've discovered that, just like in the US, French families are all different. Haha. No host family is perfect, just like no family is perfect. My host brother is 22, and he doesn't leave his room. He also refuses to talk to me... or even look at me. Oh well. My host parents very nice, very sweet, and extremely patient. I understand most of what they say, but sometimes the dinner conversation goes a little too fast for me, and then they reexplain everything... still in French, but slower. So I can get it. They've been hosting American students for 10 years, so I think they're pretty used to it. And they must like it. I'm very happy here. They invite me to watch the news with them after dinner. And the let me read Le Figaro. It's much easier to read the paper than to watch the news. The journalists speak very fast. And there's a lot of vocabulary that I don't know. But already I'm understanding more! And I'm understanding more at dinner, too. And in class. Slow progression. A few people keep telling me that since I'm farther behind everyone else, I'll get more out of the program... I guess that's good? I mean, I'm definitely not the worst in the program... but I'm certainly not the best either. Whatever... I'm talking with the director tomorrow about courses. So I won't fail this semester.

Then we went to the Louvre after lunch to get our free semester passes. But, of course, what else? They were on strike! So we have to wait until tomorrow to get them. Then we walked around the Palais Royale and the cute little streets in the area. 'Twas great, until we ran across a HUGE STRIKE!!! We couldn't cross the street. It was absolutely hilarious. So French.

But Tufts fed us at an amazing pastry shop. It made us all very happy.

Tonight we're going to Montmartre after dinner. I'm pretty stoked. I hope we don't get pickpocketed... or worse. Cheers!