Wow. I'm in Paris.

It's official, I'm in Paris! It really did not hit me before today that I was actually in the city I had been planning so long to return to. I've had quite the interesting 24 hours (it feels like it's been so much longer), so I'll start from the beginning! P.S. Can you believe how little I packed to take for 3 months? I'm so proud of myself :) My flights and everything went very smoothly - Tenny and I met each other at security and sat next to each other on the 10 hour flight to London and the 45-minute hop to Paris. I have to give British Airways some props, their entertainment was amazing and the food was actually not bad. Everyone has their own TV screen and you can choose from about 30 different movies (new and old releases) and start/pause/stop them whenever you want! I watched Angels and Demons and State of Play, both of which I reccommend! But British airport Starbucks was NOT good. I ordered a double "skinny" mocha and it was seriously not blended at all and I think I drank all the chocolate first because the rest of it was too strong to finish :( We were picked up at the airport by a pre-arranged shuttle which was so nice, and got a thrilling introduction to Parisian rush hour traffic. The combination of pedestrians, bikes, motorcycles and cars ALL acting like they own the road can get a bit hairy... Once we got to 267 rue St. Jacques, we went inside Cafe Universel, found the landlady Fazi and she showed us to our apartment. We live on the 3rd floor (which in France is called the 2nd) and there is no elevator. I almost died taking my luggage up the three flights of spiral wooden stairs, but I think I would have actually killed myself had I not been weight lifting this summer :P The apartment is tiny tiny, as most are in Paris, but it will be comfortable for the two of us as long as we keep getting along so well! Noticeably absent was an oven, any kind of clothes storage and... toilet paper. Looks like we won't be doing any baking :( We've turned our suitcases into drawers under our beds so hopefully that will continue to not be super frustrating. A mere 2 hours after arriving at our apartment we were supposed to meet our advisor, Tawna, downstairs to walk to a group welcome dinner. Apparently the taxi/bus situation got really messed up for her, so we awkwardly waited in the bar downstairs and talked to the American bartender before deciding to take matters into our own hands and walk there. It was only a few blocks away so it was a good chance to test our sense of direction. Dinner was not only REALLY GOOD, it was a great chance to meet the 8 other girls in our program. Yes, only girls. It was an assortment of personalities to be sure, but they all seemed fun and enthusiastic so it should be a good time. The food was excellent! I had a Bordeaux which was AMAZING and the perfect start to my discovery of French wines. In France, there is pretty much always a fixed price menu to choose from, or you can get things a la carte. I had a goat cheese salad, chicken breast with mushroom sauce (all the entrees came with a side of fries!), and une dame blanche. The last one sounds super exotic, but it turns out it's vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce... works for me! By the time we finished dinner and a little orientation, it was 10:30pm, which is not atypical in Europe. Tenny and I waddled home and spent a few hours unpacking and checking our emails and Facebook to the sound of the French news channel. We get four channels, all in French. So much for digital cable and TiVo... By 2am I was falling asleep while watching the latest episode of Gossip Girl so I crashed. Up by 10 and out the door by 11, Tenny and I decided to randomly explore the city on our free day. We started the day with a FANTASTIC sandwich the likes of which will somehow never be found in the states, and proceeded to literally just walk. Everywhere. Once we hit the Seine, we grabbed an open tour bus to go down the Champs Elysees and around the Tour Eiffel. We hopped off in the 16th arrondissement and decided to look for food. We finally found a cute cafe (it was a very residential area) and proceeded to have the most amazing meal. Ever. We split a salad with herbed chicken breast, chopped apples, currants and tomatoes, and somehow it was so much more! The lettuce here is different and so so good, and it was the perfect antidote to our heavy meal last night. We then went grocery shopping nearby (TP, yummy French lettuce, eggs, olive oil, etc.) and decided to head home. Here's where the adventure begins - we have no idea where we are and we're now carrying heavy bags of groceries. Once we find the metro station, we have to go about 15 stops on two different lines to get to the one closest to our apartment. Which still isn't close. By this point it's also very warm outside. Earlier in the afternoon it was downright chilly (as you can see by my scarf and coat above) but we were soon stripping all those off and were sitting (or standing) on the metro sweating and generally not having a good time. And then we went the wrong direction from the metro station. Going the right way, it took us a good 20 minutes to walk to our apartment, so we shall see how we end up getting to school. I'm going to have to leave hours before at this rate... Speaking of classes, I got my schedule last night and it's perfect! I'll be honest and say that this is not going to be an academic quarter for me by any means, and that's how I planned it :P I'm taking classes on French cinema and fashion (in English) as well as an intensive language class. The electives meet once a week for 4 hours and the French class meets twice a week for 3 hours each class. That means I have Wednesdays and Fridays completely free, and only afternoon class on Monday and only morning class on Thursday! Hello long weekends :) Tomorrow I have a placement test (they try to call it a "conversation" but I know better...) at the Institut Catholique in the morning and then we all have reservations on a boat tour on the Seine for lunch. Then I need to find a hair straightener. ASAP. I miss you all SO much I can't even tell you. It's rough being this far from home and dealing with quite an inconvenient time difference, but I know I can't waste time while I'm here being sad! I'm keeping busy and trying to maintain my sanity, any and all prayers are appreciated :) I'm now laying on my bed debating a nap before dinner, since I have about 3 hours to go if I want to eat like a Parisian! I know this was an epic post, but I had to establish a little context right? Hopefully it will only get more interesting from here!