McDonald's tastes the same in every language.

Just finished my first reading assignment for our class taught by Dr. Costello, which is called "Paris as Spectacle" and (from what I understand so far; we don't start class until tomorrow) examines the ways that the city of Paris creates the identity of France (and that of the French themselves) as well as formulates its perception by outsiders.

The reading was kind of..political philosophy, about the conditions that create national identity & then the difference between memory and history, which was thought-provoking. It was kind of dense, so it took longer to read than I'd expected. I guess it needs to be dense since our class is THREE HOURS LONG. Rough.

Classes start tomorrow. We go to the Sorbonne in the morning to learn our grammar class placement & have the lit class in the afternoon--five hours of class in all. We get a nice three-hour lunch break, though.

Saturday we took an amazing excursion to Rouen (which is in Normandy) and Giverny, where Monet's home & gardens are located. We left at 8 a.m.; I tried to find a boulangerie (bakery) that was open to get some coffee and a croissant before we left, but the French are kind of lazy (a.k.a. they're my kind of people). They don't go to work until 10 a.m., so the earliest anything is open is 9 a.m.; even later on weekends. So I just went to the trusty McDonald's, where they sell croissants and the smallest glasses of orange juice ever (I see why the French are so thin; they smoke all the time so they have no appetites and can thus somehow subsist on the smallest glasses of orange juice ever).

Sooo the bus ride to Rouen was about two hours through the countryside. The city itself is tiny and extremely historical. We saw some AMAZING cathedrals and a little square with buildings from the 1300's, during the height of the Black Plague. The people used to dump bones there because the cemetaries were overflowing. There were lots of skulls and crossbones & other macabre art decorating the dark wood; apparently people would go there to look at the bones and reflect on how likely it was that they'd die in the near future, which I'm sure was uplifting. The buildings are now where Rouen's art school is located--I can't even imagine what it would be like to go there every day for class without a second thought.

The site of Joan of Arc's burning at the stake is also located in Rouen.

We had an hour or so to eat lunch and walk around downtown around the little shops--we went inside Hermes, which was pretty exciting if unattainable. I definitely want to buy a pretty scarf while I'm here (but preferably one that doesn't cost 275 euro).

After we came back to the bus we drove to Giverny and bought tickets to see the gardens and Monet's home. The gardens were exactly what you'd expect to be the inspiration of an Impressionist painter--lots of wildflowers, lack of structure, something to see everywhere you turned. There were also several Japanese bridges on the pond in the water garden, which had adorable lily pads (a few of the lilies, both white and pink, were in bloom).

The home was Victorian and gorgeous, with amazing views of the gardens from the upstairs. Each room was monochromatic--the dining room was a cheerful bright yellow. Japanese woodcut art lined most of the walls; clearly Monet was pretty obsessed with the "japonisme."

Outside, you could go inside Monet's studio, which is now the gift shop. I bought a pretty print for my room next year. Jenni and I were wandering through the gift shop when we were stopped by an old woman who asked us where we were from; she was American, too, and turned out to be the director of museum volunteers. She'd been coming to Giverny since 1980 to give tours and lectures on Monet, his life and his art (I assume she was an art history professor, but she wouldn't tell me what she did; she just said, "I just love everything!"). She sat us down on a couch in the studio (which we learned had actually belonged to Monet) and told us all about Monet and his family for about thirty minutes; it was a really nice gesture, a special way to experience the museum.

We came home after we were done at Giverny and I took a nap & then went down the road with Arden to get some dinner (brie & biscottes). We went up to the terrace and sat up there drinking wine with our entire group; it was really nice to get to know them. I admittedly got pretty inebriated; still trying to learn to like wine. We got kicked off the terrace when it closed at 11 p.m. and I walked Arden home (she's in a hotel for now since my French roommate hadn't moved out yet).

The next morning we got up pretty early and took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, which was huge. Then we made our way all the way down the Champs-Elysees (most of the shops were closed, though, because it was a bank holiday..also everything just has really weird hours here). We saw Cartier, Louis Vuitton, LADUREE (I'll go back and get some macaroons, Becca, I promise!), etc.

At the end of the Champs-Elysees (which is SUPER long..we walked at least five miles on Sunday) are the Grand Palais and Petit Palais, which are now art museums; one currently houses an Andy Warhol exhibit. There's also a gorgeous bridge, across which lies the French Institute (where l'Academie Francaise meets--I NEED to tour it; I'm such a nerd). After the two palaces is l'Obelisque, which is located at the site where Marie Antoinette was beheaded. It's kind of tall & has incoherent hieroglyphics all over it, and it mirrors the Arc de Triomphe at the other end of the Champs-Elysees. When you cross the street, you usually only make it halfway, where there are little islands of traffic respite because you'd meet certain death if they weren't there--there are no real lanes to speak of, and definitely no speed limits. I feared for my life even when I was safely planted on the oasis with all the Mercedes-Benz automobiles whizzing by (even the buses, ambulances, etc. are Mercedes here!).

After the Obelisque come les Jardins de Tuileries, which is a fabulous garden with sculptures, fountains and children's playgrounds (along with thousands of people milling around everywhere destroying artistic photographs). We ate at an overpriced cafe in the park. I got a hot dog with cheese, but the cheese was fried all around the hot dog and it was in a baguette and basically it was just NOT what I was expecting & I was kind of hungover, so I asked the waiter for a green salad, which made my lunch cost 11 euro, but I seriously could NOT stomach the hot dog.

After lunch we walked to the other end of the park, which had a sculpture garden that served as the foyer to the front of the Louvre, which is tremendously huge. We didn't go inside, but we sat outside near the glass pyramids on the edge of a fountain and people-watched for a while (by the way, I can kind of see why the French were so pissed off when they erected the pyramids in front of the Louvre..as if the huge palace wasn't gorgeous enough and desperately needed huge glass obstructions to beautify it). It was crazy to hear so many different languages as people walked by. A man next to us was feeding all of the gigantic pigeons from his hand, making them fly up near our faces, which was extremely frightening.

We walked back to the Foyer past Notre Dame, which is also (shockingly) huge as well as exceedingly crowded. We might return there on Wednesday afternoon since we don't have our literature class that day.

By the time we finally trudged home, I was pretty much dying. I was tragically sunburned, my feet hurt, and I had a massive headache (I'm sure all the wine from the night before didn't help with that one). I took a long nap, woke up and walked to the McDonald's since it was the only eatery still open around 9 (it's completely light out here until like 10 p.m., by the way, which is kind of unnerving). I had great difficulty ordering a plain quarter pounder ("Je veux juste le fromage, le boeuf et le pain...oui, JUSTE le fromage, le boeuf et le pain...oui, SANS les autres choses...merci..."--I should really learn the word for "plain"), but I was extremely satisfied once I finally sat down to eat.

Later that night I attempted to find places to Skype people since I still don't have Internet in my room. I went to the solarium on the 7th floor, but apparently I was too late because the front desk guy came and kicked me out; it closes at 11 p.m. Soooo I headed down two floors to the library, where I couldn't call anyone (too quiet!), but I could at least write a blog post and check Facebook, etc. The same guy came up to kick me out and lock up the bibliotheque at 1 a.m., but as he locked the windows, he called me over.

"Viennes ici."

I walked over to the open window. Paris sparkled beyond the balcony.

"There's Les Invalides," he said in French, gesturing, "and the Arc de Triomphe is over there. That's la Defense, and the Sacre Coeur is right there."

He pointed to all the lit-up monuments on the skyline, one by one.

"Mais la lune," il a dit, "est la plus belle chose dans la nuit." ("But the moon," he said, "is the most beautiful thing in the night.")

There's pink toilet paper here, and I'm looking at the Eiffel Tower from my window.

So, I'm totally exhausted, and I still can't believe I'm really here. I'll start from the beginning.

The flight from RDU was delayed, and I was terrified I'd have to catch a later Paris flight and thus be forced to navigate le metro francais all by my lonesome. Luckily, the later connecting flight was still early enough that I caught the flight to Charles de Gaulle in Newark. On the way, I made friends with a girl about my age who had just graduated from culinary school in Charlotte and was on her way to her best friend's wedding in San Diego. We had fried chicken together for lunch, and I lamented that it would be the last time I'd have shitty American food for a long time. On the flight to Newark I chatted with the computer hardware engineer/Latin dancer sitting next to me the whole time. Interesting conversation about politics and the nature of passion; he was a nice guy, but we didn't agree on anything. Love it.

Finally I got to Newark, met up with four other girls from my program (they're all fabulous, by the way) and got on the looooong trans-Atlantic flight (a red-eye). Slept through most of it. Tried to have my first legal taste of alcohol but was tragically denied by the flight attendant. Apparently Continental is a U.S. carrier, and you have to be 21 to drink on board. Unfortunate.

We got to Paris and dragged our ridiculously heavy bags across the airport to the metro station (the airport had actual TOWELS in the bathroom, which was weird). We got on the blue line (although apparently the French don't refer to train routes by color, as in most other countries. Instead one must know the name of the line or its final destination to be understood) and headed to the Luxembourg station, where it was just a 5-minute walk to our dormitory, le Foyer International des Etudiantes. It's an international dorm in the heart of Paris (the 5th arrondissement dans le Quartier Latin, to be exact). The dormitory is just a short walk to the Seine (and all of the monuments that line it), and the Luxembourg Gardens are immediately across the street. We sat and ate lunch there yesterday and watched people shamelessly make out everywhere (park benches, street corners, in front of fountains, while walking down paths, etc.). Apparently PDA is no big thing here. Other things I've noticed about the French:

1. They don't wear colors. At all. Their uniform consists of deliberately baggy/nonchalant black, brown and grey clothing. Their hair is an artful mess, and they all look like they've stepped out of the pages of an American Apparel catalogue, which makes no sense, but whatever.
2. They don't smile at strangers. I've gotten some slightly suspicious looks from people I've glanced at pleasantly on the street.
3. They smoke. Constantly. And everywhere (this is NOT a stereotype). Even the high schoolers are blazing away outside their little lycee. It kind of makes me want a cigarette, not gonna lie; but I shall resist.
4. They don't have tons of patience for non-French speakers. It's not that they get mad if you try to speak to them in broken French, they just automatically reply in English because their English is guaranteed to be approximately 84920842 times better than your French, and it's more efficient that way.

More to come.

So today we had our orientation meetings and placement test, which was pretty difficult, but I suppose that's the point. I doubt I'll be placed in the beginner level; probably intermediate or possibly advanced if I somehow did a lot better than I think I did. Some English guy named Simon tagged along with us to lunch at the Resto-U (the student cafeteria for the Sorbonne).

In the afternoon Dr. Costello (program director and professor for our French lit class) taught us all about Paris--its geography, monuments and their locations, public transportation, etc., which was super helpful. Then we went on an hour-long cruise on the Seine, which was touristy & amazing. We saw a TON of monuments and landmarks (la Tour Eiffel, la Cathedrale de Notre Dame, le Louvre, le Musee D'Orsay, l'Obelisque, etc.). I took pictures; will post them soon (once I finally get Internet in my room..at which point I'll also be able to TALK on Skype; kind of rude to chat in the library)! I'm definitely not going to have enough time to see everything I want to while I'm here.

We came back from the riverboat ride and went out to dinner for my birthday (!). We ate at a little taverne, and I had some delicious salmon & vegetables. I tried Jenni's steak tartare, and it was actually pretty delicious. I'd thought it would be just an uncooked slab of meat, but it reminds me of tuna. It was nice to go out to eat; it's been such a weird day that it hasn't really felt like my birthday.

Later we went out to get our drank on (but very mildly; we're all still pretty jet-lagged). I asked some cute French boys how to find la Rue Mouffetard, since I've heard that's where the party's at, and we found our way there with their directions and, naturally, a map. The road was teeming with students, all milling around in the street. Cars drive through very infrequently, and there's a circle in the middle where people chill and drink cheap wine and beer they've bought at the tiny 24-hour supermarket (it kind of reminded me of TJ's on Franklin, except it actually sold food for some reason, too). I and the five other girls I was with each had a glass of wine at a bar (mine was white; I need to learn to like red wine, but it's hard.). We took pictures. Then we went to the market and I bought a 6-pack of Heineken. I drank one at the circle (had to ask a French guy if he had "une chose pour ouvrier cette bouteille"; it was opened before I even finished the query) and brought the rest back to the Foyer since we're most likely throwing a hotel party tomorrow night (three girls are staying at a hotel for a couple days since there aren't enough rooms at the Foyer due to education strikes & exams being postponed).

Well, I'm exhausted and it's almost 1 a.m. here. Tomorrow morning we're heading as a group to the city of Rouen and then going to Giverny, where Monet's home and gardens are (including the Japanese bridge from several of his paintings). On Sunday we're hoping to tackle the "Grand Axe," a straight route of significant sites including the Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees, Jardin de Tuileries, Louvre, etc.

Bonsoir!

Getting ready...

I'm currently preparing to head overseas for the very first time, and I'm exceedingly excited (but not so excited that I'm not attempting to legally acquire several doses of Xanax for the plane rides there and back--not such a big fan of flying).

My plan is to study French at the Sorbonne in Paris for a month and then backpack through Europe with one of my best friends for three whirlwind weeks--to England, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and finally back to France.

Seeing as we live in an increasingly connected & global society, there are several fabulously convenient and technologically advanced ways to reach me while I'm away:

• Facebook (obviously..because I'd most likely die without Facebook)--I'll check as often as I can & upload approximately 34284902 pictures!
• Email-- josephsonL@gmail.com
• Skype--I currently have the capability to talk with you via instant message, voice and video chat. I can also call your phone from my computer (and vice versa)!

username: leah377

phone number: (919) 926-0409 (yes, it's a local call, and yes, I have voicemail; leave me a nice message!)

• Snail mail--In case you have the burning desire to send me something by way of post, I'll be staying here (room # TBA):

Foyer International des Etudiantes

93, boulevard Saint-Michel

75005 Paris

France

• Cell phone--I'll have one, but it's exorbitantly expensive and thus will be used solely for emergencies, like ordering a pizza.

Keep in touch & I'll keep you updated on this site and on Facebook!