First days

Hey everyone,

First of all...just a disclaimer...I've never written a blog before, so I have no idea if this will be interesting or not or even if I'll continue doing it all semester. I'm just going to give it a try and see how it goes. I apologize in advance. =)

Today was my third day here, and I love everything so far! I arrived Wednesday morning at 8am Paris time (midnight Phoenix time). Somehow I managed to meet two other people from my program at the airport and ended up splitting a cab with one of them. I'm living in a homestay just outside of Paris in a suburb called Montrouge, which is just south of the 14th arrondissement (neighborhood/quarter/area). After getting dropped off in front of three or four identical apartment buildings and wandering around for a couple minutes I heard a high-pitched voice yelling "Yoo-hoo! Mallory!" with a beautiful French accent. My host mother was waving at me from her balcony in her second story apartment. She came down to get me and help me with my luggage, of course after exchanging les bisous (kisses on both cheeks common among friends/family in France). Her apartment is very cute and fairly large considering that just the two of us will be living here. I plan to take pictures of my room when I've had a chance to finish unpacking. I was so jet-lagged the first day that I slept almost all day, but woke up in time for a dinner of vegetable soup, salad, cheese, bread, apple compote, and wine.

The next morning (Thursday) was the first day of orientation at IES (my study abroad program). We met everyone and got tons of information about housing, transportation, classes, etc. It was really overwhelming. After they finished talking at us we went to buy a French cell phone. It was somewhat challenging to understand the recording in French telling me how to record my outgoing voicemail message and get everything set up, but after a while I figured it out. I still don't know my phone number, but I'll memorize it soon enough. On my way home from the cell phone store I got extremely lost (something I expected considering that I have absolutely no sense of direction), but after walking about 30 minutes out of my way I found the  building and completed the routine of keys, codes, buttons, and doors to get to our apartment. When I got home it was 8pm and my host mother had already eaten, so I ate my dinner while we watched the news and a soap opera called Plus Belle la Vie that she watches every night. I had risotto, salad, cheese, bread, a clementine, and some dates. I'm loving the way the French eat--small portions of different courses. And, of course, the food is great!

This morning my alarm clock (my new French phone) didn't go off because the phone still said it was 10pm. I just happened to wake up about 10 minutes before I had to leave, so I got ready really quickly, inhaled a cup of tea and some toast, and ran out the door. To get to the orientation yesterday and today I had to walk about 10 minutes to the metro stop, take the metro for about 10 minutes, and then walk another 5 to the building (not too bad at all considering some others have to travel 40 minutes or more). I think I will be taking the bus to classes, but the metro will take me everywhere else. Today we talked about cultural adaptation, how to meet French people, and diversity in France. It gave me a good perspective on what to expect for the rest of the semester. Tonight the whole program (about 90 students) had dinner together on a boat on the Seine (the river that runs through Paris). It was really nice even though I had a interesting vegetarian meal (a plate full of white rice with a sauce that tasted like tomato soup). After the boat docked I went out with a couple of friends and had a really good time. Now that I know that I can find my way home at midnight after a glass of wine, I should be able to do every time without a problem!

Sorry that this post is so long. They will definitely not all be like this. I just wanted to cover everything up to now. Tomorrow I plan to upload some pictures! I hope this was somewhat interesting. If you have any specific questions or comments please let me know! Thanks so much for reading!