Time really does fly when you are having a BLAST!!! I've gotten really bad about keeping up with this thing. A full week behind now. I'm going to try and get caught back up tonight, but don't hold me to that. A whole lot has happened and I don't know if my fingers or my internet connection will last that long.

So today's entry should be filled with AWESOMENESS because it includes the 13th and 14th--You shall find out momentarily. So, the day of the 13th began like every other day here in Paris: waking up early for French class. I cannot remember what we did in French on the 13th, but we did have another good time. It's a very informal, hands-on type of class. I feel like I'm talking to a friend instead of a teacher which it makes it more comfortable and easier to lend a voice to the room. We did ask Isabelle, our teacher, what was going on that night because it was the night before Bastille Day which is supposed to be one crazy night. She mentioned a bunch of Bals des Pompiers which are fireman's parties pretty much. When we got to our Art and Architecture class everyone was talking about them as well...so I was in, needless to say. Fireman and men in uniform...you'd be in too. But before I could go to the Bal I had to go through another Art and Arch class-which actually turned out to be one of my favorite. We spent the class at Les Invalides-the place where broken soldiers were held to keep them out of sight of the public. It was really quite an impressive place. BUT! There were military men EVERYWHERE! It was awesome...they were taking pictures near the cannons and guns and helicoptors, and so i took pictures of them doing that. We unfortunately couldnt see it all because it was under renovation, but there was a really cool statue of Napoleon in the front. We spend a good amount of time in the Chapelle at Les Invidales, and guess who is buried there? Yes, one of my favorite people in history...NAPOLEON! His grave is MASSIVE-just like his ego haha. He has his own crpyt in the Chapelle, that surrounded by sculptures and pictures of him as caesar like and being all knowing and divine-he's a facinating character even in death! LOL!!! There was a bunch of other people buried there too including his two brothers, but not nearly as monumentally as him. On the other side of a glass...uh...thing ha...is the Upper Class Chapelle. It is beautiful! My favorite so far...it was open and light with it's white stone and surprisingly gentle feel to it. I really like it. After class I went back to look into a trip to Belgium for an extended time. Then I got ready for the Bal des Pompier. BEST NIGHT EVER!!!!! It was seriously the most fun I've had here in Paris so far. It took a really long time to get in, but it was totally worth it. We waited in line for over 2 hours, and a few fights broke out next to us, but we made some friends with some guys and they kept us away from the fights and stuff. So when we got in, it was a massive party in a little fenced off aread that was outside. People were up dancing on bars and the firemen and soldiers were everywhere dancing and taking their shirts off. There was champagne everywhere. A random guy came over to me and the girls and gave us glasses and Cara even got the rest of the bottle haha. Then I met Jonathan and danced with him. He was really nice, didnt speak english all that well, but enough so that I understood him...he said my French was good, I just laughed at that...but at least he understood me. Me and the girls stayed until about 3 am just dancing the night away! When we left we started walking towards the Champs Elysees because the metro doesnt start up until 530. We found a few other people we knew at a bar so we stopped and had a bite to eat with them. We got to the metro after that and took it to the Champs Elysees---we got there around 545am...and had to wait until the Bastille Day Parade to start. We had a tip that said it started at 8 so we got some breakfast and coffee and waited not expecting to be there that long...oh nooo...it didnt start til 10!!! We were all sooo tired by the time we finally saw men mounted on horses coming down the Champs Elysees. The stuff actually started at 910, but we couldnt actually see anything until 10. Then rain clouds started getting close and me and the girls were having real trouble staying away. We decided to stay for the aviation fly by-a total of 79 military aircrafts. We got to see the back of Sarkosy's head, and a bunch of military men marching and on horses. Then the plains flew by in some really awesome formations. After the flyby it started to Rain Cats and Dogs! Me Liz and Cara started sprinting to find the nearest metro, they had shut off the ones alont the Champs Elysees so we had to go farther and got absolutely drenched in the cute cloths we had been wearing from the night before. But we made it fun of course haha. When I finally got back to the house I took a 6 hour nap and almost missed the fireworks, but they were loud enough that they woke me up, and i watched the end of it from my window. It ended with a great day, because after dinner (which was full of english because madame wasnt hungry and howard ate with us) I booked my tickets to Belgium!!! YAY!!!!

So the next day at school was brutal. It was a very rude awakening after not having that much sleep. Plus, we had a mini-test-it turned out not to be to hard though so it wasn't to bad. We worked on Passe Compose in French too, which I remember from Class at OU so it wasnt a hard time. Art and Arch was a bit harder because we had a long day at the Musee d'Orsay...not my my favorite by any means but there were a lot of really amazing pieces. It was a lot of impressionist art and some post-impressionist--commonly names such as courbet, courdet, Cezanne, Manet, Monet, and Van Gough. It was a really cool place, a train station that had been turned into a museum. A lot of cool pieces but some of it got really funky. I'm not thrilled that we are heading into modern art--definatly not my cup of tea. Also during class as we saw some paintings about vampires, it got really frustrating because people started debating about twilight and how it's an evil book...I'm not a huge fan of it, but I like it...but I think everyone is entitled to their own opinion and it just got really irritating. After class, a lot of us were so tired from the Bal and Bastille day that we all just went home and called in early.

Friday the 16th was actually very laid back- in french class we just worked on the Passe Compose a bit more, but in the form of a crime/murder mystery. It was actually funny- I used Kyra and My story about Fernando being in the Italian Mofira- the class found it funny so that's good. After class I went to the ISA office with Liz to print off all my tickets and reservations for belgium. I also looked into some extra travel- i've added Brussel's, Bruge, Ghent, and Antwerp to my itenerary! YAY! After that I just went home to pack for the Loire Valley!!! It was a very relaxing and lazy thursday and Friday after Bastille day, which was nice and very much needed!

WOW, so I have a lot of catching up to do...so let's get started.

So June 9th was a very lazy day. I had French class like I do every week day, but it was fun. We played a game of catch and conjugate- we were given a verb and had to conjugate it correctly. Adding fun to learning is always interesting and makes it a bit easier...I think anyway. Then we played another game-we seperated into groups and me and two other people were candidates and we went around to each groupand they interviewed us (in French) for an apartment and if we would be suitable for their complex. I got voted "yes" for 2 of 3 groups! The third was a no because I want pets and I'm not a vegetarian. This guy in my class, ironically his name was Justin, but anyway-he picked me for both games...it was a bit...flirty? haha! After class I met up with Cara Li and Janet and ate lunch in the gardin at the Catho. Liz and I had a craving for Mickie D's so we went to find one in Monparnasse--less than mediocre I must say. There was no Art and Architecture class so I went home after lunch and caught up on the bachelorette.

So, this was the weekend I was supposed to go to Belgium...but I ended up having a really fun weekend anyway. On saturday I slept in, and went to a flea market in Malakoff. I bought some really pretty stuff (can't say cuz if you are ready I don't want to give presents away). I spent a good 2 hours or so at the flea market. It was incrediable how much junk there was, but there was a lot of really nice stuff as well. If you have never been to a flea market, i highly recommend it (amazing things at offordable prices and a lot of trinkets and trash that will make you giggles). All the people were really friendly too, and they all wanted to speak english with us...it was kind of funny. After the flea market, Kyra and I met Emily at the catacombs. The line was intense, so freaking long. Thank the lord we only in it for about an hour-I don't think I would have waited much longer but I really wanted to go down there. It was sooo creepy. We walked for what seemed like forever in these damp and dark passageways. There were a bunch of cells around the place which were pitch black, I avoided my eyes. My favortie part was the entrance from the passageways to the tomb- Arret! C'est l'empire du mort! Stop! This is the empire of the Dead! How creepy is that?! When you walked through that, there were massive amount of piled bones and skulls around you. It's a rat's paradise i must say. It was also freezing down there-which made it even worse. There were a few times when the skulls made shapes-the creepiest was the shape of a heart made of skulls. Around the entire place there were little riddles about death-it was disturbing. By the time we got out of the catacombs i was an icecube and had seen enough piles of bones to last me a life time. Plus, we had walked under the city for so long we ended up in the most random place. We had to find our way back to the main street-we ended up stopping a few times to go shopping ( I ended up getting a few shirts on sale 50%!). That took up pretty much all afternoon, so when we were finished I met up with Cara and Jenna to watch the 3rd Place world Cup march between Germany and Uraguay. We were going for Uraguay, but Germany won. It was still a very good, exciting game, and we had a very good time. I tired heinekin for the first time, it was ok...carlsburg is better! We went to the souvenir shop right across the street (St. Michel-our new favortie hangout) and I got a really good deal on a jersey and skarf-I got a ronaldo portugal jersey and a skarf that said espana on it for the Finale. It was pretty late and we had to leave sowe wouldnt be late for the metro.

Sunday was a lot of fun. I saw so many things that I wanted to see. In the morning, after a great sleep in, I planned out what I wanted to do over the next few weeks ( what I wanted to see and the metro stops to take). Before the official day started, I hit the flea market again, and got a few more things for people (again can't say because some of you may be reading this). Then Kyra and I made our way to some of the key places we wanted to go. We started out with St. Germain de Pres- one of the oldest churches in paris. It was gorgeous--and looked extremely old, which I love. I think I was a bit more interested in the amazing black Ferrari in front of the church...LOVE! Then we ate lunch at a resteraunte called les deux magots....the two magots. It's a landmarked place, but it really was not that good. But it was cute and fun to say we have eated there. Afterwards we went to the Delacroix museum which is supposed to be inside his actual house. It was kind of boring, definately not my favorite place. But I saw some painting I recognized and I must admit his house was very cute. The next stop on our ageda was the Opera Garnier. It took us a few minutes to find it because the signs and the map in the metro had a different name than was on the front of the building. But it is an amazing building. Unfortunately it was not open to the public because it was preparing for a show that night. It was still fun to go see where the phantom of the opera lives. Because we were not able to go inside, we had some extra time, so we went to St. Sulpice. Unfortunately, the cathedral was under construction, but it was beautiful, especially on the inside. Luckily we had made it just in time to hear an amazing choir perform. It was really touching and their sound was extremely....there is not a word...moving. We had to leave pretty quickly after that to get to the finale at the eiffel tower. I met Jenna at Porte d'Orleans and we went over together. IT WAS CRAZY! So many people, but dominately for Spain. It was so hard to find spots to stand but we finally did after about 20 minutes of searching. About 30 minutes into the game people got up and left and Jenna and I got to finally sit down. We met some americans there and talked with them-they were really cool. Suddenly a riot broke out and people started to scatter-flares were set off and some thugs were throwing glass bottles into the crowd. It got really crazy...but we stayed to see the end. SPAIN WON!!!! YAY!!!! IT WAS A HUGR PARTY AT THE EIFFEL TOWER! People yelling and cheering. We started jumping around and cheering with a bunch of rando's but it was sooo fun! It was the worst, sweatest, smelliest metro ride home ever, but so worth it to experience that party!!!

Monday was a rude awakening, getting up early when I had such great days of sleeping in. And not only was it early, but a crazy rainstorm woke me up. The wind slammed our windows shut and it woke me up about two hours earlier than I needed to be up. If the weather had kept up like that I would not have gone to class, but it lighted up. I still had to use an umbrella and it was windy so for the first time i was actually chilled. I got to French class, thankfully not drenched, but a bit wet. We worked on l'imperitif or commands. In art and arch we had our second day at the Louvre. We saw French and Italian painints. There were a bunch of Napoleon that I loved. And of course we saw the mona lisa- which really is not that impressive, but still draws so much attention. You can't help but be facinated by it's...well...strangeness. We took a quiz also, but it was very easy. I stayed behind in the Louvre alone after class and looked at some of the Roman and Greek statues. I left a bit early to find the St. Severin but I could not find it anywhere so I just went home to do my homework. I had to work on a presentation-over Mont St. Michel. It was pretty easy, just a lot to translate. So when we were about to go to sleep, Fernanado, the alussive Italian, went down and knocked on Madame Lefur's door and they were talking in hushed voices. Then the door rang and we saw a man in black with a briefcase come in from our window and we hear him talking to Fernando. We were convinced it was the Italian Mafia and made up a bunch of situations. It was funny, but at the same time so weird. Fernando is very strange ha...we never see him. We then figured the man was a doctor, but he soon left and Fernando come upstairs laughing...so maybe it wasnt a doctor. Why Why Why? We locked both the locks on our dorr that night.

I have no written in days and there is sooo much to catch up on...needless to say this will be a long entry. Where do I begin...I guess with the first day. Well July 7 started off like all the rest: getting up way to eary for French class. We mainly just when over verb conjugations and got to know each other a bit more. After French Lauren and I went to go eat lunch at this really cute place, called the American Cafe, just out side of St Chapelle and the Palais du Justice. Let me tell you something, the French invented people watching. I love how all the chairs at a resteraunte face out to the street so you can watch people. It's magnificent! So, after lunch we met up with our class at the St. Chapelle: a private Chapelle built and used by the king of France. It was absolutely gorgeous! It had the most beautiful, intricut stained glass I have seen to date. The walls were painted and had the Fleur de Lis everywhere. King Louis (can't remember which one exactly) had his initials amongst the Fleur de lis as well. It was a cute two story little chapelle, and the bottom belonged to the servants. The servant'f floor has included all that has been mentioned...the Royal floor, the second floor, was that X 10!!! The walls were practically made out of the stained glass, and what was wall was beautifully painted and marked with fleur de lis. It was a beautiful building, and trying to describe it in this entry would be impossible. Unfortunately, the high alter of the second floor was under renovation, so we did not get to see that, but even without it, it was beautiful. We made our way to the Place Dauphine, a little medeival square that has been turned a bit modern. The best part about it was that Napoleon built the facade of a the government building at the far end of the square. We didnt spend to much time at this square because there wasnt really much to look at any longer, and then class was dismissed. A few of us, Kyra, Emily, Jenna, and myself, stayed behind to go see the conciergierie, a prison, and the prison that held Marie Anoinnette before she met Madame la guillotine. We walked down some stairs and into this huge atrium, there were windows but they were small and high up. It would have been really creepy in the days of Marie Antoinnette. Then we walked down a couple hall ways with recreated cells. It creeped me out a bit because in them were plastic figures, and some of them were really sick looking and bleeding. When we came to the reconstructed cell of Marie Antoinnette, I have to admit it was a bit dissappointing...it is so played up by people that I suppose I was expecting to much. You'll have to see for yourself. Then we found ourselves in a small chapelle that had a few monuments dedicated to important people including Louis VXI. There was also a huge list of all those that had been recorded as victums of Madame la Guillotine. The best part, best is probably not the right world...was the little garden to the side. It was a cute little square garden with a fountain and a stone table...cute...until you found out some very chilling information. The garden was called "The Woman's Courtyard." The women were allowed to walk around and the table was for eating, and they could wash there cloths in the fountain. And then, there was the "corner of twelve." a celled off triangle at the far end of the courtyard, where 12 women at a time would wait for the cart that would come to take them to meet the guillotine. We walked inside that corner and shut the gate on ourselves and looked out at the rest of the courtyard...i have to honestly say, it was not a pleasant feeling, and to think that so many women had had their last goodbyes in that very corner...extremely chilling. The day was drawing to an end, but was not over yet...the four of us made our way to the Reine River to meet the rest of our group. Little did we know that where we met was actually on the bridge that Princess Diana had sadly crashed and died. We all had a little moment of silence as we read the notes and messages left for her around the memorial. It was touching. Then we took the River Reines boat tour and saw things from the Eiffel Tower to the L'Orangerie to the Louvre, to the Grande Palais. We than split up into even smaller groups again and headed off the watch the semi-final between Spain and Germany. It took forever to find a place, we ended up having to get on the metro and going to Pont Neuf. We found a cute little bar that was playing it and had a bite to eat (a croque msr-ham and cheese sandwhich with melted cheese on top and a salad) and I also had a Carlsburg and watched the game. SPAIN WON! It was a good game though. Then finally, we had to head home.

The next day was a lot simpler, and a lot less filled, but still lots of fun. Started off in French class, and worked on the conjugations of irregular verbs. The are a lot more complicated than i remember them being from French class as OU. But my prof. (who actually told us to call her by her first name, which is odd to me ha) make it a lot more easy and fun. The art and arch class was really fun because we were meeting at the l'Orangerie to see impressionist art, and monet's waterlilies. It was not an easy place to find because the signs made absolutely no sense. Within one block, two signs pointed at each other and the only thing in between them was another street and the metro. We finally just decided wo walk around the place de la Concorde until we could find our prof. and we found her outside the Tuileriese Garden (B-E-A-U-tiful)! When we went inside we got these cool headphones so that we could wander away from the group and still hear what was being said by our prof. It was really funny at times because she'd see something that had nothing to do with art and point it out. Like this one time she mentioned a growling baby, and no one knew what she was talking about but we all got a laught out of it. Impressionist art is nowhere near to being my favorite, but Monet's waterlilies is a beautiful piece of work...or I guess I should say pieces of work. I can't even describe it, and the pictures I took don't come near to catching how amazing it really is. The lighting and architecture of the building was specifically made to fit with the painting, and words and a picture just don't capture that. GO SEE IT. I didn't like much of the rest of what was in the museum, but it was worth it to see Monet's masterpiece. After class I headed home and did some homework because we planned to all meet up and Montparnasse and 830 to do go see Twilight: Eclipse. The wibsite was wrong, the movie started at 730 and 1020 at every movie theatre. It was not fun trying to find the movie theatre either...we all ended up going to different ones because there were almost 10 in the small area we were in. We finally found each other and had a quick drink at a bar and caught the 1020 show. It was a relaly cute movie, and I had fun watching it in a foreign country. It was in English, but there were French subtitles. The theater was about half and half though. Good movie, not great...but fun. We didn't get out til after midnight and had to pretty much sprint to get to the metro on time. We did make it, sweaty and out of breath...but it was worth it.
When I got home it was close to one, and I couldnt sleep very well so was up til almost two just starring into space...the next day I would be drinking a bit of coffee in the morning for a pick-me-upper.

WOW! I have not been around my computer much because we went on a little trip this passed weekend, but boy do I have a lot to say!!! Bare with me...this will be long haha.

OK so...we are rewinding the clock a few days. Back to the second day of my Art and Architecture class. Boy was this a fun day. Alex and I met at Porte d'Orleans again, and had lunch sitting on the Fontaine St. Michel as we waited for the rest of our group to arrive. Some rando came up to us and started muttering things I couldnt understand, but we ignored him and he finally left us alone, BUT THEN, another rando was behind us splashing us with water from the fountain trying to get our attention. Not going to lye, the water felt nice seeing as it was extremely hot outside, but it was a bit annoying. He finally left us alone too as the rest of our group arrived. We all took pictures at the fountain when our prof. arrived and led us along some streets to St. Julien le Pouvre, an old Romanesque church. We stopped at a really cute gardin first, which sits in the oldest square in Paris. Growing in this gardin is also the oldest tree in Paris. St. Julien was unfortunately closed but it was rather picturesque in a medieval part of town with the Towering Notre Dame behind it, which was our next stop. We made our way to Notre Dame and she explained in very vivid detail all the statuary on the exterior--the meanings and the stories behind them. It was very interesting. It was so crowded, and we had to wait in line to get inside. Once we finally did get inside we were told to find a structure, a piece of art or a sculpture to write about--why we chose it and what stood out to us. I picked the sculpture of comte claudio in the back of the Cathedral. It was a very dramatic sculpture of love and death--Comte Claudio is sitting up out of his coffin while father times stands behind him with an hour glass that has run out. Claudio is reaching out towards a figure kneeling beside his coffin. We find that this figure is his wife, praying to join Claudio in death. This peice, while dark, captured me and I just had to write about it. Unfortunatly, in my anxiousness to write about it I forgot to take a picture...desole. We were let out of class after that, and me Kyra and Emily had planned on taking the stairs to the top, but the wait was 45 minutes and we didnt have enough time--considering we had to make dinner on time. So, we went back to the square around Fontaine St. Michel and went shopping. I was able to find a French Jersey and French flag, YAY!. After making it home for dinner, and being worried that it would rain cats and dogs on us, Kyra and I met a bunch of people for a wine and cheese picnic under the Eiffel Tower. Now this was a good time. We all met up at the Porte d'Orleans and made our way to the large grass area in front of the Eiffel Tower, made our picnic area and tried a bunch of different wines, cheeses, and bread. We made it in time to see the light show as well. Then we split into smaller groups and went our seperate ways. Carley, Will, Kyra, Jenna, and I went across the bridge to see the Football match between Paraguay (or Uraguay) and Ghana match on a huge TV screen. It was fun, but we left a bit early so it wouldnt be the worst, most crowded metro ride in the world. I met a very attractice French boy there, didn't get his name--and his english was not so good, but it was fun talking to him. Not much else happened on this day...just went home and packed. It was hard to sleep because I was so excited for the weekend.

THE WEEKEND WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!! There is just so much to tell, I'm not sure if my hands will even last long enough to get it all down. But to start, we all had to get up really early and meet at Porte d'Orleans to get on the Buses. Liz, Cara, Janet (my new besties) and I all sat in the back of the bus and pretty much giggled the entire 5 hour ride to Saint Malo...with intermissions of 5 to 10 minutes nap times. When we arrived in Saint Malo, I can honestly say, I've never wanted to stay in a vacation spot more. It was a beautiful, fortified, walled city. We checked into our hotels which sat right on the main square. My room looked directly out onto the life of the small city. We had a tour of the city and climbed the walls--OH MY LORD---THE VIEWS!!!! Beautiful beaches, with amazing fortified islands with sail boats and yachts all around them. The water was blue and clear and the sun was shining--unfortunately it was a very cool day. We passed a lot of streets with funny names. My favortie was Rue de la chat qui danse (The street of cat who danses). This street was actually named to make fun of the british who were trying to invade Saint Malo, and blew up a shit but only managed to kill a cat. THe cat died in the very street and so it was named Rue de la chat qui danse. We passed this really cool place that looked like an ordinary swimming pool...but no...the pool was only filled when the tide was in. When the tide was out, there was so water. It was really cool, a raised area with a dock around it. I really wanted to go in, but the water looked freezing. We passed a really cute Irish pub in the middle of the French City and a bunch of cute Irish boys came out and all the girls took pictures with them ( they were wearing red wigs and shamrock hats). When the tour was over, Liz, Cara, Janet, Jenna, Kyra, and I went shopping (the stores all had like 50% off sales) and then to a grocery store to get wine and break and cheese. After a little more shopping (I got some shirts and a painting) we went down to the beach to have a picnic. We ended up watching a group of boys playing a game of beach football. Liz and I wanted to get up and play but didnt.When we finished our picnic we got up and walked down to the water, which yes was extremely cold, but to our surprise the boys came over and started talking to us. One asked for my number but I didn't give it to him. They kept pushing to hang out with us but we decided against it and left for another part of the beach and walked around in little lagoons (much warmer water). Afterwards we all went to our rooms and got all cute and went out to dinner where we had the most amazing pizza ever! Wow was it tastey! French food is always amazing. Then we had a bit of girls time up in one of the rooms and watched a bit more football and talked about random things then went to our rooms and went to sleep. We all knew we had to get up extremely early for the adventure that was to come the following day.

Our day at Mont St. Michel was...how to put it in words....extremely entertaining but tiring! We started off early in the morning with a bus ride of about 30 minutes to the middle of nowhere where we were dropped off and told the bus would meet us on the other side. Then we continued to proceed through a field--this field was filled with sheep and sheep poo. We could barely see Mont St. Michel in the distance--it was 6 miles away. Now that does not sound long, but it was. We did not go straight for the island...we went in a wide arch to the side. Grass turned into sand and we ended up on the beach. Beach turned into mud, and we walked around with inch thick mud shoes on our barefeet. Mud turned into quick sand...yes you read the right...quicksand. Did we run from it....NO, we played in it! Now before you lose it, we had a guide that told us it was safe, but when she said run we had to run. It was so much fun getting "stuck" in the quick sand. I took so many pictures and laughed the entire time. It felt like we were on a water bed in the middle of nowhere. After a while we began out walk again along the wide stretch of beach. It was funny because Cara and Janet had to pee the entire time--6 miles worth of holding it is no fun. We picked up sea shells and I found some really pretty ones- life long souvenirs of Mont St. Michel that were free! All of a sudden the tides began to come in...and they came in fast and from both sides. I would take a step and it would take 5 seconds for the tide to catch me...crazy!!! Some people rode by us on horse back...i was soooo jealous! I wanted to do it on horse back, not just because my feet knees and back hurt...but because it looked like so much fun! Finally we made it to Mont St. Michel. It was a beautiful island...a medeival fortress/city. We cleaned to mud and sand off our feet, and to our delight found our skin to be silky smooth. Then we proceeded to walk around the city. We started at the bathroom, which cost (yes cost!) 40 cents...we decided we were paying for the PINK TOILET PAPER! We found a really cute building to have lunch in and I got my first French Crepe....AMAZING!!! Around 2pm we met up with the group again to take a tour of the massive cathedral. My tiny group of besties did not really want a tour so we went off to explore on our own and made a great time of it taking pictures and being silly. They really do remind me of my friends at home. After wondering around and trying not to get into to much trouble ;) we went souvenir searching and I got a key chain of the Patron Saint of Traveling...I just thought it fit me to a T. We had to get back on the bus then, and take the looong 5 hour trip back to France. I ended up sleeping on the floor of the bus because it gave us all more room. I was so tired when we got back to our place that i pretty much instantly fell asleep after my shower.

Monday morning was a very rude awakening...and not because I had to get up at an early time. I actually did not have to be at the Catho until 10:30. However, it was test day for french placements. I was really nervous and I really have no idea why...i think i just did not want to make a fool of myself haha. Anyway, I took and and ended up getting Elementary 2...which was not surprising at all (considering I have only taken 3 semesters and took 3 semesters off). Then the day really began when I met my art and architecture class at the Musee de Louvre! We spent most of our time looking at Roman and Greek Sculptures and again picked one that stood out to us and wrote about it. I picked one by Michelangelo because althought it was in the Roman style of praising a male body, it was almost feminie in the vulnerablity the peice showed. It is hard to explain, but the peice was beautiful. I went around the Egyptian area alone when class was over. Beautiful peices...I hope that is what I will be working with when I finally am out of school. A place like the Louvre is totally where i want to be. I was so tired after trying to navigate my way around the Louvre, and the exam that i came home and had a little dinner and quickly went to bed.

Finally we reach today--my first day of French class. I am happy to say a few people from the ISA program are in my class, which makes me feel good and not alone in a bigger class ( which isnt very big at all--lets just say it makes me feel a bit more comfortable). Anyway, the class was really fun...and the prof is really sweet and easy on us. We started off today getting to know each other, and presenting our partner in french. Then we refreshed conjugated some verbs like etre and avoir. Then we played a French grammer game, which was actually really entertaining. We all got assigned a presentation that should last about minutes-it wont be to bad since I decided to write mine about activities to do at Mont St. Michel. After french a few of us went to a grocery store and got some sandwiches and fruit for lunch and too the metro to saint paul and ahd lunch there were we had a little show of two pigeons fighting over our crumbs--great entertainment! haha. We had a bit of time til our art class so we went around a few streets and found some stores with sales...even with sales the stuff was outragous...104 euros for a shirt (sale price!!!). We stopped looking at cloths and went to a chocolate shop instead and found the most amazing chocolate-small pieces but heavy and rich. Then we made our way to the Musee Carnavalet- a museum of the history of paris. We looked at pictures of Francis I and Louis XIV and Louis XVI. It also had a lot on the French Revolution! I love that time period, and we spen most of our time in that area looking at the painting of Marat and Marie Anoinette. It was not my favorite museum but it was fun. After this however...things began to go down hill a bit. I had been planning on a trip to Belgium for my free weekend with a few people. My roommate had been in at the start. So, we went to the ISA office to print out tickets--sold out. When I had looked yesterday, there were still tickets, but she wanted to wait and so we did. So i suggested maybe looking at other sites or for other cities, maybe cologne, reims, luxembourg city...she kept saying no she wanted to stay in Paris. Then she said ok but she didnt want to do any place I suggested. So we found some cheaper belgium tickets, only about 100 euros to Bruges round trip.. and a relatively cheap hotel. I was just about to click confirm on the hotel and she on the tickets when she said no, she wanted to wait for tomorrow because she felt rushed....URGH! Frustrating. And not I doubt i will ge to go to belgium. DANGIT! Well tomorrow is another day, hopefully we can still get them...if not I will find something else to do I suppose. A bientot!

My First Day of Class was so much fun!!!! First off, I got to sleep in until about 10:30 which was really nice and helped me get over jetlag which had killed me the day before. Kyra had a class at 9:00 so she had to be up a lot earlier than I did. Anyway, so I got up and took a shower and fiddled on facebook and Alex and I decided to meet at the Porte d'Orleans and head to class together. Class yesterday began at the Musee de Cluny in the Latin Quarter. So I walked to the Tram, by myself I might add, and made my way to the Porte d'Orleans (a metro station). I swear some guy on the Tram was stalking me, but moving on. So I met up with Alex, which was kind of funny because each side of the street has a metro entrance, so we started off going to different onces, switched to the other sides, ans she finally saw me crossing the street again and we finally met up haha. We took the metro to the Latin Quarter and went to get a quick bite near the Musee de Cluny. Then we met up with a bunch of other students ourside the Musee and waited for Natalie and our Prof. to arrive.

Prof. Lev cracks me up. She is this small woman with a kind of weird style with so much energy. She has a lot of passion which makes her fun to listen to, but she tends to ramble on about material and you find people starring off into space. I found myself doing that as well. A lot of the information she says I've heard about it other history and art classes so it's nice to refresh my memory. But there are some very interesting things I havn't heard that she has brought to my attention.

In the Musee de Cluny we encountered a lot of statues, tapestries, and stained glass. A lot of the statues had been attached to Notre Dame, and is an act of punishment were, as Prof. Lev called it, "castrated." The statues are headless, but the heads were later found and inside the museum the bodies sit on one side of a room with the heads sitting on the other. The story behind it was, the beheadings of the statues was a display of punishment for the Revolution. It was going against the currupt chuch, and currupt people of power. Although, the punishers got it wrong...they were not beheading statues of powerful christian men...but the kings of Juddah...WOOPS!!!

We spent a good deal of time around the tapestry of the Lady and the Unicorn. They entire piece had 6 parts; each representing a different sense--Sight, Sound, Taste, Touch, Smell, and a 6th sense which seemed to be purity. The senses were arranged by how carnal they were to their clossness to god. Sight was the closeset to god, and I pointed out that it was the only part in which the lady was not the center of the painting, the unicorn was. Also, her garments were a sort of reflection of the white unicorn where in other tapestries her garments were brilliant blues and reds. They were really very beautiful works. Les Milles Fleurs... I tried to look for a miniture of the lady and the unicorn but I could find were postcards.

After the Musee we went to see a Roman Ampitheatre that had been turned into a little park. It was not very well preserved, but you could still see some of the original stairways and seating. The class was dismissed but a few of us, including me, stayed behind and climbed the steep stairs to the top of the ampitheatre and talked with our prof. about the most random things. We all headed out around 5:30 and Kyra, Emily, and I went shopping around the Latin Quarter. We found a couple of really cute shops, and some of the things I wanted to get...but they were just outrageously expensive or extremely breakable and I didnt want to risk it breaking and not being able to replace it. I did try to french sweets--Emily and I tried French marshmellows. They are actaully a lot different then ours, and a lot better too haha.

We took the metro home and arrived a little early, but when dinner was served we were introduced to one of madame Lefur's friends, John. I think he is British because he spoke english very well and had that slight british accent. He was very nice and funny and we told him about our day and our program and he asked a lot about us. I didnt ask him if he was from England, because if he was French, I think it might have offended him. I think he could tell I was a bit confused trying to decipher what was being said around me so he slowed down when talking to me and sometimes translated what was being said. It helped a lot.

After a long day, we just decided to stay in. Kyra is still getting over Jetlag and i was just worn out from so much walking. So we took our unique showers and heading off to bed after reading for class today. Today...we are visiting Notre Dame and St-Julien-la Pouvre. Plus, around 8pm tonight a lot of us are having a picnic under the Eiffel Tower! It's going to be a long but exciting day! CAN'T WAIT!!!

Continueing on from yesterday...after making it back to my room and uploading pictures and what not we had a group dinner in the Latin District. On our way there, a guy on a bike rode past and as he did he kissed my cheek. It was really shocking but I had to bite my tongue and keep walking. It's almost flattering in a way...but in an odd, very twisted way...if you know what I mean. We took the Metro to St. Michel and could not find this little street the place was on because it was so badly marked. Kyra and I met up with a few other girls from ISA who were lost also. They took out a map and just randomly started walking in one direction. We didn't want to follow because they looked pretty clueless, and we weren't about to get more lost that we already felt we were. Finally a group of four guys stopped to help us and they had no idea where it was either...we used google map on one of their Iphones--how pathetic is that, even the locals had no idea where this place or street was haha. So when we got to dinner I found there was a whole lot more of us then I had originally thought: the business ISA group was also there though, so that added to the numbers. Dinner was really great, and very entertaining. I got to know some really awesome people pretty well (Liz, Kara, Jacob, Janet, Kate, and Monica). Like I said before, everyone is really nice and I get along well with everyone. It's a really gret group from the looks of it.

Dinner was LONG, but good. We had a select menu and I got a really yummy hot goat cheese salad, rumpsteak and fries with mushroom sauce, and chocolate mousse. OH MY MY was the mousse good, it tasted like cold brownie badder...so yummy. Dinner lasted until just after 10...but it was well worth the time. Janet, I have come to find is extremely funny and says just about anything to get a laugh out of people- she really is hilarious. Liz Kara and I go really close too. Unfortunately none of them are in my classes, but we have made plans for friday to go have a picnic under the effeil tower with some wine and cheese. Plus I have excursions and other time with them as well.

So after dinner my little group decided to go watch the light show at the Effeil Tower. We took the metro and sadly, a really random crazy guy started yelling and Liz in French. We have no idea why, she wasnt talking- so it's not like he was offended by her English or her being loud. He must have just been some crazy dude, or had had a bad day and needed someone to take it out on. Regardless, it left Liz close to tears. We all comforted her and Janet pretty much led the way to the Tower. I've come to think of her as Mama, she doesnt like it, but I think it fits her to a T haha. So we watched the little sparkle show and took a bunch of pictures and then headed our seperate ways inside the metro. Kyra and I were worried that the Tram was going to be closed already, but Amanda and Jacob were with us and luckily it wasnt so we made it home around midnight. We had to walk in really quietly. We did a bit of reading for our class today and then went to sleep.

Oh did I mention the bathroom in the shower ? Let me just say, it's laughable. There is a little window smack dab in the middle of the wall so you have to crouch over or the neighbors can see in. Also there is no real shower head, it's on the side and comes off, so I was literally sitting in the shower this morning so I wouldnt be seen by the neighbors. It's definately an experience using that shower.

So, today marks the first day of my Art and Architecture of Paris class. We start in the Latin District--Musee de Cluny and Arenes de Lutece are the places we are viewing today! It should be really fun. I am about to go meet Alex at our metro stop--The Porte d'Orleans and we are going to head over to the Musee together! It should be a very very good day!

Can you say, JETLAG! I swear I got very little to no sleep last night. I'm like a zombie, walking around Paris with my head cut off haha. So, I am just now able to get my computer up and running, because it turns out my adaptor would not work for my computer. Anyway...

Bienvenue a Paris! It was not easy to get here. You would think a direct flight from Paris to Dallas would be fairly simple. No stops, no problem! WRONG! Weather delayed my flight for hours. I was supposed to take off at 5:30...yeah no, try 9:00. Absolutely awful...I was really worried as well, because a girl, Josselyn, who I had found out was suppossed to be connecting into Dallas, never showed up. Finally she got on about 10 minutes before we took off. They had to hold the plane for a couple of people who were late due to connecting flights. The flight was very uneventful, I passed some time conversing with a French family that I had actually met through the YMCA. The only other even remotely interesting event that took place on the plane, was not even really an event--reguardless--watching the moon and the clouds was actually very fun. I don't know if it had to do with a storm having just passed, but it was really pretty. The clouds just kind of dazed around the moon. I wanted to get a picture of it, but i one did not have my camera and two it would not have actually captured on the dinky camera I have.

Arrivee en Paris!!! So we finally got to Paris and Josselyn and I met up with two other girls at the baggage claim, Kate and Alex. Sadly, it turns out Josselyns bags had gotten lost somewhere back in Dallas so she had to go to the counter and file for her bags which she still has not gotten (and it's the next day at 5:00pm). After that, we spent a good 15 minutes trying to find the meeting place for the students. My lord did we look retarded. The stereotypical dumb american girls haha! The maps that we were given just did not match up with the airports. So we finally found them and met Crystal, one of the ISA assisstants. She is really cool and funny, as are all the directors (Natalie, Annamaire, and Gabriel). We then got in a shuttle and just chatted until we were all dropped off at our homestay. Can I just say...I am living in Parisian Paradise! The house I am staying in is beautiful! It's in a cute little area known as Malakof in And. 15. It is three stories, 2 windows wide and about 6 windows deep. The house, I would guess, is from around the 17th century (maybe 18th century). It is kind of hard to say, but it has the feel to it. My roommate and I have the entire third floor to ourselves. And our view is breathtaking! We look down into a sweet little garden and out at the little town which looks very old.

OH, OF COURSE! Our hose mother, Madame Lefur (that is what I call her because the rest of her name is hard to say). Is a very cute sweet little lady. She only speaks French to us, which is very confusing but at the same time forces me the practice the language, which is the entire benefit of this trip and a homestay. It was interesting giving her the gift I bought her because I am not sure if she will be able to read it--it's a Texas cook book and yes it's in English so...hopefully she can figure it out (if she ever decides to acctually use it). So back to the house, I must say the cultural differences became immediately apparent to me. The tub and sink is in completely different rooms than the toilet. I call our toilet the blue throne because literally it is. The toilet itself is blue with blue walls and tile floor with a red brick path leading up to it and gold statuary around it--I kid you not---PRICELESS!

So, after moving all of our stuff into our great room, Kyra, my roommate, and I went for a walk around Malakof. We found the metro station closest to us and had a little bite to eat. We stopped into a grocery story to see the differnt stuff inside. LOTS OF CHEESE AND BREAD--mais oui! C'est Francias! The wine and other adult bevs were extremely cheap as well. I did not see one go over 31 Euros ( I do not have the Euro symbol on m computer as I am using my laptop so spelling it out or using a capital E will have to do). We came back for dinner which actually was relaly good--ham in tomato soup and potatoes--extremely simple but very good. I didnt have wine, but I am anxious to try some here very soon. I soon went to bed after dinner because I was so tired after a long day of traveling.

This morning we got up around 7:30 and had breakfast with the other American student staying here, Howard (There is a chinese student here also, but she is never really here). Madame Lefur took us the the tram station Didot which we took to Metro Porte d'Oleans and took it to Saint-Placide which is very close to the Catho (The Catholic University of Paris). We met up in the courtyard of the Catho-which is extremely cute. The entire group met and went over Paris life and traveling here and getting used to the Parisian way of life. It was very helpful but because of jetlag it was hard to keep myself from dozing off. Our directors are very nice and extremely funny so they kept it somewhat entertaining. Gabriel made a really funny joke about one of the students who came along soley because his girlfriend did too--Gabriel said "you know in Paris we say, you never take your sandwich to the store." If you dont get that, let me just tell you--it's funny.

We had a two hour break for lunch and we spent it having a little sandwich picnic in the Luxemburg Garden--TRES BELLE!! I took a lot of pictures, but words cannot describe what it looked like. It was just beautiful. I want to eat there pretty much everyday for lunch between my classes because it is really only two blocks or so away from the Catho. I met a lot of really nice girls today that I went with and took a bunch of pictures with them. Then we returned to the Catho and got a lot of information about our trips and classes. After a quick trip to the electoronic store with Alex to get a new convertor we headed back to our home where I currently am. I have about an hour before we are all meeting up for a sort of welcome dinner. I am starving and excited, love getting to know new people. This is a great group of people from what I can tell so far!