presque parfait

so this past weekend has been a blast. even and thursday was alright. friday kicked off with a great commentaire de texte on de gaulle in 1958. then i took a cafe with some friends before wandering the city until dinner. i went into decathlon, a sports store not too far from the middlebury building. wandered around there for awhile and tried on some european shoes. a little weird looking, a little cool, quite comfortable, but not needed. then i found dinner and ate in a park. i'm still infatuated with european supermarkets. i've still only been to small corner markets, but soon i'll venture to a hyperchampion ou carrefour.
friday night didn't end until 6:30 in the morning. there was a wine and cheese party on the roof of one of my friends foyers. met some new friends. spoke french for most of the night. and had a wonderful view of the city. every hour the eiffel tower lights up like a stobe light. at about 11:30 wew left for the slightly over americanized bar where the first debat was being shown. no room to sit down until just before 3am. for the most part people were respectful. not before the debate, but during.
took the metro home when it opened only to wake up two hours later to go to versailles. versailles is to big to visit just once. i'll have to go back sometime. still haven't seen all of the fountains or all the rooms in the palace. not to mention all of the art work.

first real class tomorrow, france and europe over some time period that i don't remember.

il faut que

je ne peux pas dormier ce soir. aujourd'hui j'ai visite le senat de la republique francaise qui est dans le palais de luxoumbourg. quel batiment! i haven't visited d.c. in a while but i don't remember our government buildings being so beautiful on the inside. maybe we, as a nation, should have built some palais in the 1600's or something...oh wait. that may or may not have been impossible. this weekend my new friends from this program and i will be watching the first presidential debate live at 3 in the morning in some bar somewhere. (i should probably find out where exactly) we also will be paying a visit to one of those other famous palais, versailles, or something like that, on saturday. should be another fun weekend here in paris.

paris, je t'aime

remember that time that i was complaining about not having any classes? well i've decided that classes can wait. i want to explore this city. the last few days have been perfect fall days. crisp, clean, clear, slightly chilly sunny days. and my walks around this city have led me to some interesting places. other than discover "my spot" in Belleville, i've meandered through the jardins de luxumbourg, i've walked along the seine and the grands boulevards. i've even explored the marches couverts in the heart of paris. real classes don't start for another week...so i have time to explore other regions on paris that i haven't yet seen, like the 17eme.

chevre

i may or may not have eaten too much chevre since my sejour began about two weeks ago. its just so good. there is nothing better than a sandwhich that consists of chevre and bacon and a baguette...walking around paris, sitting in parks, people watching, none of it is complete ith out a sandwhich to chomp on. speaking of chompin', my host mom makes the best ratatouille. we just had it for dinner. spectacular.

Belleville

Went to Belleville in the 19eme/20eme and there is a park there where you can see all of Paris. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me. It just means that I'll have to go back someday. Already have a French dissertation to plan out for lundi. I find that its a bit of a challenge to talk to the other people on the program here. Maybe its because we all have friends at home, but there seems to be a lack of outgoingness going on. Part of it is that we all live partout, its not like the campus life style we're all used to. Maybe I should be the one who is more outgoing, its just that I've always had this problem and hesitation to invite myself to things. On va voir.

Still can't wait for those classes to start. Only two more weeks.

Allez les Bleus

Watched a match de foot ce soir with my host familly. France was playing Serbia and really needed to win, since they lost to lowly Austria this past weekend. It saved the job of the manager for the time being and most everyone will be happy tomorrow morning in the metro. Classes don't start until the 29th of September for my language class and my French history class au Centre Middlebury. Paris 1 doesn't begin until the 6th of October. So I have a lot of time on my hands. Friday a small groups of us etudiants are going to explore the area of Belleville, should be a fun adventure. Host family is better than great. If only I could have more meals with them. I had to cook for myself tonight. Not that I'm a bad cook or anything, but its weird when all of us are here and I eat at a different time qu'eux.

a plus

Bon bah je suis la

So for those of you who don't know already I'm spending the year studying abroad in Paris. Je viens d'arriver le 3 mercredi and so far so great. Paris, je l'aime, meme si j'habite en Boulogne, c'est juste a cote. Monday I have my first meeting with the Middlebury program and classes start the week after that. Today, after buying a french cell phone and some school supplies I decieded to find the Sorbonne 1; where I will be taking half of my classes. It may or may not be right next to the Pantheon. After this excursion by metro I decided to walk around Paris. If you have a map of the city handy take a look because I walked from the Sorbonne, to Notre Dame, then to the Bastille, puis le Centre Pompidou, then Les Halles, walked along Le Louvre to Place de la Concorde and finally hopped back on the metro to go home. Some pictures were taken a sandwich was consumed and that was pretty much my day. Tonight my host sisters at a soiree d'une amie et ma mere d'acceuil et avec ses amis, donc j'ai regarde un match de foot (La France a perdu 3-1)
Miss all of you, some more than others, and i hope your having fun in your part of the world.