My neighborhood

This week has been pretty boring so far: I had an oral exam yesterday, a dictation today, an oral presentation tomorrow, a midterm on Thursday, and a grammar AND phonetics test on Friday!  As you can imagine I've been accordingly nerdy.

Luckily, this means for now you're spared a history lesson and instead get a peek into my life in Paris!

Here is my metro stop.

Here's the park right next to the metro stop in the foreground, my apartment building is in the background.

This is a big public plaza that's about 2 blocks from my apartment.

My bedroom & desk, kind of messy because I'm in the middle of like six things. 

If you thought that was messy..don't worry because here's the state of the kitchen/living room.

Also in my neighborhood there are some neat buildings with modern architectural aspects..very un-Paris which is kind of sad but at least they're not 70's style (aka ugly).  

OK I am off to analyze a painting in French for my oral presentation tomorrow.  Wish me luck!  

Je suis arrive!

I'm here!  Getting here was quite miserable as my flight was delayed nearly four hours and I spotted a bunch of mice in the airport, but I'm just glad I made it!  Actually, the friend I was going to meet also experienced delays since it was snowing when we arrived, so despite being 3 hours later than expected, our flights came in within ten minutes of each other.  We cabbed to the ACCENT student center and had about a half hour to check into our hotel before a short walking tour.

Yesterday afternoon and all day today were a flurry of orientations, group meals, and little errands.  Seven of us went out for a walk and some wine last night, but we stuck to a glass or two since we were feeling pretty jet lagged.  I got my cell phone and Navigo metro pass, and picked up a contact case since I couldn't find mine.  This afternoon we found out some very basic info on our homestays: the family members ages, and the location of the home.  

I was a bit bummed to find out that I was the only student not living within Paris: I'm doomed to life in the suburbs.  But in reality it's not really suburbia at all so even though I'll have a farther commute than everyone, it shouldn't be too bad.

Finally this evening we met the homestay coordinator at our hotel and met our families!  My family is a recently divorced woman, her 21 and 17 year old daughters, and a cat.  Their names are Emmanuelle (mom), Anne Gaelle (21), Charlotte (17), and Noisette (cat).   It's a 3 bedroom, 1 bath apartment and it's about a block from the metro station Pont de Levallois.   Anne Gaelle doesn't live at home-- she's studying abroad in Seoul this year and leaves in 2 weeks.  

Tomorrow we have an academic orientation in the morning, placement tests at the Sorbonne, and then an afternoon boat cruise on the Seine.  Lots of the girls (and 2 boys) in my program haven't been to Paris before so I think they are all itching to have time to actually see the sights!