Orientation

I woke up early this morning at 8:00 to get ready for our orientation at 10:00 (this is a HUGE accomplishment for me to wake up so early on my own). I was even the first one in the lobby. Pretty soon some people started to trickle in that were also part of the program. I was surprised by how many people I didn't know or had never seen considering French isn't the largest department at the U. We moved into the pretty courtyard and soon after went to Helene's studio to get breakfast. She bought us the most amazing croissants and made us 'des cremes' which is basically cafe au lait but I guess you never order it as cafe au lait- it's 'un creme' if you don't want to look too foreign. After that we went back to the orientation and learned the rules of the house and some of the stuff we'll be doing while here. I was so angry to be put into the 'advanced' french class. How fair is this? The intermediate class gets to practice pronouncing words and sing songs while we have to read a book by Paul Morand Fouquet and answer questions about it for each class.  This shall be interesting.

After orientation we went to the local carrefour which is basically a big grocery store. I bought some brie, plumbs, olives, sausage- you know the obvious essentials. After that we did some shopping and again found some great deals! I really am so surprised by how affordable a lot of stuff is over here- even with the exchange rate I don't feel terribly ripped off. Ok I actually take that back- after shopping we were dying to have starbucks. Guess how much a tall drink costs? The frappacinos and the machiatos were both 4.50 Euros! That translates into somewhere over $5.00. That will have to be a rare treat while here. Oh yes I almost forgot to mention getting pooped on. Of course this would happen to me since it always seems to nowadays. I was standing outside of a store with my friends Julie and Mel and I was like "is there a leaf in my hair?" No it was not a leaf; it was bird poop! Some say this is good luck so maybe I should be excited about that. I went to the nearest self-cleaning bathroom and literally shampooed my hair. It was pretty nasty.

After walking miles yet again we came back and took naps as always. My room is SO warm and it makes it so easy to just pass out for hours- not good. My trusty friend Seren gave me my daily wake up call to make dinner with her (I would probably sleep all day if it wasn't for her!) We made pasta and sausage for dinner and ate it out on the terrace. overlooking the park. After that Seren and I had some really good conversation and went on a walk around town. I'm so happy I have people here that I'm already friends with. I feel like I've known these girls for a while. Now that's a good feeling to have while away in a far away land :)