Slow Down!

Today was our first day of orientation. Dr. Costello met us at the FIAP to show us how to take the RER and the metro to the Foyer, where some of our classes will be. Unfortunately, something was wrong with the train and we had to walk-- well it was more like a run (slow down Dr. Costello! I thought Europeans were supposed to live at a slower pace than Americans?). We sat through a session in the morning, where they said just about everything they could about the classes (3 hours worth). of course I'm sure we all looked like zombies so who knows how much information we'll retain. Then we took a short break for lunch, and a few of us walked through the Jardin de Luxembourg.

 Considering the time of year, there wasn't much to see, but here's a ridiculous picture of me in front of the museum anyway!

In the afternoon three of the mothers from the French families we will be staying with came to talk to us and answer any questions we had. I'm excited to say I understood 90% of what they were saying (none of them spoke English at all)! Oh, and when I went to get a phone that I could use while in France, the woman helping me complimented my French! I'm not trying to brag or anything, but it's exciting to know that I can understand them and they can understand me.

Tomorrow we will be taking a walking tour of part of Paris with Dr.Costello (hopefully he'll slow down so we can actually see some of it). Other than that there's nothing much new here.

A la prochaine fois! (Until next time!)

Bonjour Paris!

I arrived in Paris this morning at 7:20am- dark and early- and successfully managed to manouever my way to FIAP (which included a short foggy view of the Arc de Triomphe!) where I will be staying for the first week.  Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to check in until 2:00pm. Needless to say there were a lot of tired looking college students hanging around the lobby for a while.  A few of us explored the area immediately surrounding our short term home, but as Dr.Costello mentioned, there's not much to see in this area. Hopefully, we can fix that tomorrow when we head to the Foyer where we will start our orientation. I knew Paris was big, but I think even that may be a bit of an understatement. I guess I'll just have to be patient!

Everyone seems really nice. There are 17 of us total- four boys and 13 girls (the normal ratio for a French class- I guess men just think it's a girly language?) I am staying in a room with three other girls, which when you include the bunkbeds feels very summercampish. Maria, Sara and Claire all seem very nice and I think I may have already found some traveling buddies!

Anyway, as you might imagine I'm tired and my computer battery is dying so until next time!

6 Days Left

Hey Everyone!

So I thought I would just put up a test post-- a sort of introduction. Obviously I'm not actually in Paris yet, so there's not much to tell, except that I'm really excited/nervous. I promise I'll try to keep the blog updated as much as possible, because I really want to share my experiences with you all and I figured this would be the easiest way, but I must admit I'm not great at keeping up with journal type things so just shoot me an e-mail if I get lazy. 

My flight leaves this Saturday, which means I will arrive in Paris on Sunday. This will be my first international flight by myself, so that's a little scary, but again also exciting. For the first week, from what I can tell so far, I'll be staying in a dorm type situation with other students from Elon and North Carolina in order to help get us acclimated to the city and then we will be placed with French families.  I will be taking three classes: one concentrating on the language, one concentrating on the history and culture (this one includes site visits in and around Paris), and a third course which involves studying literature, film, painting and music.

Anyway, that's a little bit about what I'll be doing while I'm there.
I just want to thank everyone for their support and let you all know that I'll be thinking about you!

Wish me luck :)