so i'm in paris and have settled in. i'm not quite over my jet lag yet - i slept last night from 11pm-4am, was up for 2 hours reading, then slept again from 6am-1pm. i was shocked when i saw the time when i got up! i slept so late!
my host family is really sweet, and the one host daughter who lives at home, angelique, is such a nice girl, i'm looking forward to hanging out with her. she works for procter and gamble, doing intellectual property law (and she studies it too - how do the french have time to do both?) my family has wireless internet but for some reason it doesn't work for my computer. so i feel bad using their connector chord to do my various internet things (but the internet is so necessary! and our schedule is up on moodle so there's no other way!) but they don't seem to mind, which is nice. i haven't yet found any internet cafes nearby, but i'm sure i will soon.
our meals couldn't be more french, seriously. all of our meals are accompanied by a baguette, and our dinners are followed by a sampler of cheeses on a wooden cutting board. last night my host father offered me some wine, a 1998 I-don't-know-what. it was, quite honestly, the most delicious wine i've ever tasted. also, today, i helped my host-sister prepare our pre-dinner salad. we pulled the yummy juicy parts out of a grapefruit, cut up some avocados, and she put some paprika and a small bit of mayonnaise in it. sounds weird, but is actually delicious. mom - you'd like this, i promise.
today we met our art history professor, jerome. he is absolutely adorable, a true art history enthusiast, and it's obvious that he loves what he does. i'm excited for his classes. he's really into modern art but primarily focuses on 19th and 20th century, which are also my faves. i think we'll get along just fine (also he used to study russian! weird!)
today in class i tried to say a russian word and it came out french. i can already feel how much easier it is to speak french, just after one day of talking to my host family non-stop.
french word of the day: adorable. doesn't actually mean adorable, but is mean to mean "sweet". my host sister kept telling me "oh, c'est adorable" when i was helping her prepare food. context, context!
i miss you all.
