Ma Chambre et les Premièrs Cours

So, as per request from my mom, here are a couple of pictures of my room. One is from my desk looking at my bed, one is from my bed looking at my desk, and the other one is out my window at night.


Yesterday I slept in until just about 1pm. I set my alarm for 11am, but didn't really have the motivation to get out of bed. I had woken up at around 6am and couldn't fall asleep until around 8am. The day before I'd woken up at about 8:30am and couldn't fall asleep until about 9:30am. And this morning, when I actually had to wake up early, I woke up at about 3:45am and couldn't fall asleep until 6am (in the meantime I'd gotten up and checked my email, just for something to do). So that's weird. And annoying.

Yesterday was the first time since Saturday afternoon we saw the other students on the program. Which was refreshing, because it's hard speaking and hearing French all the time. We met at our professor, Cathy's apartment. I've discovered I'm good at figuring out the Métro, but once I get to the streets, I'm lost. I walked in a bunch of circles and probably took the longest possible way to find the apartment. Then, I got to the building and I thought she'd said the door was unlocked, but apparently it wasn't. So I called up to her room and she said (in French of course, and over those little intercom things) that she was on the right on the second floor). I thought maybe she'd come down, because the door was locked. Well, 2 other girls from my program showed up (and tried the doors too) and then some random old ladies just walked in and opened the door. So we'd been standing there a while, when the door was unlocked. I felt pretty dumb. I swear I'd tried the door!

Then we had an introductory class with Jérôme, our professor of Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Art. (I keep almost typing random little things out in French. I guess that's a good sign). I also discovered that a couple of people on my program are decently nearby, so we take almost the same métro route home, and it's nice to have company. By the time I got home, the kids had gone to bed, and I ended up eating with just Lorraine because Xavier was late. I had a pretty large meal (fantastic lasagna, salad, bread and cheese as usual and mousse au chocolat) but it was also all I'd eaten that day, besides some cookies and juice at Cathy's apartment. (I slept in until 1 wasn't that hungry, and left to get to the apartment just before 2).

That's the other thing I have to get used to. Getting up extra early so I can make the 30 or so minute commute to CUPA. I really like taking the métro though, and haven't gotten lost on the métro. The streets, yeah, but the métro, nope. C'est hyper chouette. Which brings me to today, the first day I had to leave early. My first class was the Art class and we learned about the origins of art in France, and mainly the role of the Louvre and how the Louvre evolved. Then we talked about neo-classicism and romanticism. The other class was the one taught by our Carleton professor, Cathy, where we discussed the first act of Le Misanthrope and read a poem. Nothing too difficult yet. (But we will have to do actual work besides reading...a 10 minute oral presentation about a contemporary artist that we were assigned, among other things).
In between classes, we had three hours. I got lunch with Anna (one of 3, sort of. There are 2 Anna's on our program, but also a Hannah, which is pronounced th same as Anna). And then we went in search for a place to buy a notebook, because I didn't have one. You'd be amazed at how hard it is to find something that simple. We walked all over, for at least an hour and a half and finally found a store. We also sat in the Jardin du Luxembourg for a little bit (where I took the picture above), and the sun came out, which was great.

After class I went running for the first time, and I ran around the lake in the Bois de Vincennes. It was super pretty out, and I also ran some along some random trails, but I didn't really know where I was going, I just wandered until I felt like going home. And now I'm writing this. Maxcence and Calixte came in and said hello (sort of. They made some faces and showed me the candy they were eating. and Maxcence talked really fast, so I wasn't entirely sure what he said. but I made some faces back. Then Lorraine came back and told them not to bother me. They're pretty loud kids too. Especially when they wake up, but I think that's good, because it helps me wake up.

I'll leave you with one last picture...On our quest to find a notebook, we saw this, and thought it was rather funny. Well, we thought one was kinda funny to see in Paris, but then there were two. (Also, everyone here jaywalks all over the place. If it's clear, it's fair game. I almost got run over by a bus today. But really, it's pretty safe, and convenient. Because who really wants to wait for a traffic light? Especially when you have somewhere to be in 5 minutes and you have no idea where that somewhere is relative to you.)