Today was great. I actually made contact with people. Meaning I wasn't just talking to my family all day. I saw other students!

I forgot that all the milk here is whole milk. I was glad I had corn flakes to somewhat hide the taste. Another thing I'll get used to. Like wine. I will eventually like wine, I swear.

This morning I went shopping with my host mom. She took me to the market and showed me where she buys her bread and meat. Everything smelled good. It's totally different from the US, in that you go to separate places for each thing you want to buy, but it's so much better! So worth it.

Then my host parents fed me lunch. I ate French fries! And because I'm in France, they actually count as French! But I had to eat them with a fork, which was a weird experience. The only thing you're allowed to use your hands for is bread, and you use the bread to soak up all the juices and excess food on your plate. Also, you set your silverware so that it's half on the plate and half on the table, quite unlike American manners. Dad would fit in well here.

Then my host parents took me on a two-hour driving tour of Paris. That's when I had my first massive overload of French. I simply couldn't take in anymore. And they just kept talking, and I absolutely stopped comprehending. I stopped listening. My brain shut down. Total insanity. I was so happy to see other Americans tonight.

I went to wine & cheese with all the other Tufts-in-Paris students, including the year-long ones. It was nice to talk to them. They seemed much more comfortable speaking the language, so I can only hope I'll get there eventually, too. There was so much cheese and so much wine. It was excellent. Then we all agreed to meet tomorrow morning to buy phones. Tres important.

But it was only 8pm when we were done, so we all decided to wander around the city for a few hours. We ended up somewhere along the Seine, and then we found ourselves in front of Notre Dame, and we took lots of pictures.



We wandered toward the Hotel de Ville, and we found an ice skating rink that's only 5 euros! It was closed, but we all agreed to come back another time. We eventually ended up drinking chocolat chaud et vin chaud (hot chocolate and mulled wine) at a cute cafe right across from Notre Dame. It was very necessary. And just generally a good time.

Also, for the record, I have 5 different maps in my purse. Also very necessary.