The last few days have been pretty exciting. Ended the first week of classes without too much pain and was able to see some live music and eat some good Italian food over the weekend. This morning I hosted a few others for brunch, which consisted mainly of omelets. Our kitchenette has been replaced with a shiny new one of the same model, so that should make cooking easier going forward.

After brunch Florian and I wanted to study somewhere out, but there are not too many places for that in the city. All of the cafes are mainly for talking and not studying. The only real place one can sit down and study for an extended period is, you guessed it, Starbucks. Go globalization.

It started violently snowing recently, but then stopped quite quickly.

The view from my window

This part is not really related to Paris.

Each time I have worn my black boots for an extended period of time I have started to feel mysterious pain near the back of my right heel. Today I finally solved that mystery. After investigating the shoe I discovered a small area protruding above the rest in the heel area. When I looked closer I realized it must be the head to a nail. Sure enough, when I got the needle-nose pliers and yanked it out, it was a nail. Granted it was not the sharp end in my heel and it was only slightly raised, but still could be quite annoying and I’m happy to have the mystery solved. Now I know why DSW puts certain shoes on the sales rack.

The Nail

Yesterday I had my first class. Somehow my schedule ended up with almost entirely late classes. Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday I have class from 5-7 p.m. This is certainly nice in that I do not have to wake up and rush to class, considering it takes me about 40 mins from my room to the classroom by metro. It actually seems to take 40 mins to get from my room to anywhere, even down the stairs. The one thing I do have to contend with is the crowd on the metro around 7, but as long as I remember something to read or listen to then the trip is fine.

French class is definitely 100% French. The teacher spoke nary a word of English and did not attempt to speak slowly, but other than that she seems like a lovely lady. The class will certainly be difficult, as my one semester of French did not teach me many necessary verb tenses or vocabulary, but I think I am at just the right point where the class will maximize my learning of the language. I’d rather be in a bit over my head than not advance at all.

As a random side note, the regular eggs here are definitely better than the regular eggs in Atlanta, and my (sometimes twice) daily omelet tastes that much richer. Everyone here drinks espresso, which is great, except for it can get quite pricey to buy espressos out. At a cafe, it will usually run you 2 euros to sit and have one little cup of espresso. The espresso infatuation means that there are very few resources for people making there own coffee, even for those of us using the “French” press. Of course I am only judging by the resources at the local Monoprix, which is essentially Target on a small scale, but I cannot even find whole beans. Meat is also pretty expensive, unless you buy the gras and cheap jambon like I do.

Overall, I’m definitely starting to find out the benefits of the French food variety and gearing my buying in that direction. The other night I was able to have both fondue and creme brulee at a restaurant. I had been waiting anxiously to get some creme brulee, and the fondue was a bonus. The creme brulee was not quite as good as I hoped it would be, but still a solid dish.

This past week school started, but I did not have any classes. Only lectures started, and with my schedule full of electives, I got the week off. Among other things I introduced some non-Americans to my famous apple pie. I also visited Versailles and the Catacombs. Most everything I did with a group consisting of a guy from Switzerland and girls from Holland, Australia, and the country of Texas. It’s a fun group of people and Paris continues to offer new things to do. Today it is finally sunny again and I went to a few board game shops in search of a cheap chess board.

The view from my window where my table is

This is from a few days ago when it was actually nice

I got an apartment on the exact day that my hotel stay was scheduled to end. Moving in was a bit hectic bringing luggage up the nine flights of stairs. But my little place is perfect. I’ll just say that the welcome program has continued to be great for meeting people and Paris is a beautiful city.

Looking Up

What I see when I open my door…

Starting the welcome program has been quite hectic, but it’s gone even better than expected and I’ve met some really cool people. For now I’ll just post some pictures from my last day of sight seeing as finding housing is occupying my time now.

Notre Dame

Took un petit voyage to the touristy section of Paris today. Got off at the Louvre metro station and saw it and the palace from the outside. Then I walked through the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. I felt a blister coming on and called it quits before going to the Eiffel Tower, but I could see it in the distance.

Here is the Arc

and this was my best view of the Tower

A few notable things happened yesterday. First, I set out on foot to wander around and get lost, but I did a better job than I had hoped. Today my legs are ridiculously sore, but the pain is made up for by the pride in being asked directions twice by French people, and once by a very cute girl. I false thought and then just said je ne sais pas, hoping not to shatter my apparent local image.

Here is the view from my hotel room.

I arrived earlier today in Paris for a five month long sejour to study at Sciences Po. I’m going to attempt to post relatively brief posts detailing the experience along with pictures.

My British Airways flight from Atlanta to London was a little late but otherwise fine. I proved once again that I am not a transportation sleeper and just read and listened to music the whole time, although I did get some good rest. The flight from London to Paris was delayed by an hour, apparently because of a French air traffic control strike.

I took the RER train into the city and then the metro from there. Finding the hotel was hilariously painstaking as I was always within a block or two of it but ended up asking at least four different people, in french, if they had any clue. Most did not, and when I finally got a right answer I dug around for a map to make sure. Most have been quite courteous thus far.

The hotel seems perfectly French. My window looks out into a courtyard and I am on the third floor by way of a spiral staircase.

I took the metro around the city a little bit and tried out a couple cafes. The only picture I got I snapped as an afterthought and it features a nice French trash can front and center, but it was my view from a cafe. The view was actually very cool on the big street so it is impressive that I managed to catch it at its least glamorous. My hotel is just down the street in the center.