Well this morning it is both my birthday and quite nasty outside. In order to bring better weather I’ll post a shot from the hallway I took yesterday.

It rained/stormed on and off today, but in a period of calm Taylor and I decided to wander to a supposed nearby green area in search of rejuvenation. I’m happy to say that there is what could loosely be called a park very close by. The sun was behind the clouds and the scene was certainly not picturesque, but there is a river that winds past and a bunch of trees. It was a nice change of pace from the urban landscape.

Park

This scene should be familiar to Atlantans

Some things remain the same.

Went to the Carnival here in Paris on Sunday. It was essentially a parade with lots of drums and dancers and made for a pretty fun time. Before that I went with Florian to a spot overlooking Paris and got a pretty cool picture.

It’s been a pretty busy week for me. Paris has gotten significantly colder as well. I don’t have much to add, but I thought I’d post yet another picture looking out my window. Could be a series.

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.