Le soleil?

Last week we had our first SUNNY day in Paris! It was wonderful even though a little cold, I enjoyed the vitamin D I've been missing out on here!

So last week was not too eventful... The good news is that I'm starting to understand more and more of my classes (though also daydreaming more and more!) I have one teacher who teaches History of Cinema, who should truly be a Yoga instructor. She has one of those calm voices that makes you just want to go to sleep and be calm. I'm glad the other BC-ers and I in that class decided to take it pass/fail because we were all a little disconcerted after half and hour passed and none of us had written anything down! But every professor has taken pity on us this week. For every class, I walked up and explained that I am American and still working on my french skills and inquired if there was a possiblity that instead of taking an exam, if I could write a paper instead. They each said yes so that is WONDERFUL!

Wednesday was one of those days you realize the little differences in French culture. My two roommates Amy, Steph and I woke up bright an early, made the 45 minutes trek to Diderot and sat down in class. Fifteen minutes pass and all hte students are sitting in the class, sans professor. After 30 minutes some French students begin to get up and leave and after 40 minutes, we did the same. Apparently here, teachers don't need to email you and inform anyone if they won't be coming on-- they simply don't show up! So we took a walk around the school, grabbed a long leisurly lunch, and waiting for our class that began at 3.

Over the weekend, my friends Erika, Caitlin, and Mike came over from Dublin. Caitlin stayed at our apartment and Erika and Mike stayed at my friend Maggie's. This was probably the best weekend here so far! On Friday, we took them to a popular restaurant/cafe/bar place called the Frog and the Princess and they got to meet some real French students... despite not speaking a word of French! Saturday was a different story but fun nonetheless. We met at Maggie's apartment and decided to go to a nicer dance club since our friends were here. We took the Metro to a popular club walked up, and they opened the exit rope and shuffled us right back out! Apparntly, we didn't fit their "look" for the night and he snottily pointed and Mike's jacket scoffing at his style. Needless to say, we were blantantly rejected and found another club. This time, we pretended like we belonged, walking past the hour plus wait and the bouncer look us up and down and let us in! So I guess that's the trick... anyways, it was a blast and we danced all night, leaving around 5 and took the morning metro home!

This was a great week and it was so fun to be able to show people around! I also had some actual steak when we had dinner Sunday night at a cafe (my cooking skills are subpar so this was a treat!) Overall, I realized how fast my time is going by here and that soon, I won't be able to spend a lazy Saturday perusing the most famous paintings in the world. I know it was a rocky start, but I learned that my coordinator is not exactly helpful and we need to rely on friends when things are different or difficult! It was a fun week and great weekend for bonding with my roommates.

A bientot!
Kerry