For the love of crêpes...

Four weeks ago today, I was unpacking my suitcase.  This means that I'm almost 1/3 of the way finished with my study abroad experience in France.  (woah).  Time is flying. 

Like a large percentage of folks in America, I've been catching up on my shows that premiered last week!  This mostly includes Grey's Anatomy, Glee, and New Girl.  I also watched the Desperate Housewives final season premiere just for kicks since I hardly watched last year, and I'm happy to report that I wasn't disappointed.  When you're away from home, it's the little things like watching your favorite shows that helps you get through.  Being in an entirely different culture that speaks a different language isn't easy.  I understand why they the France programs are so selective now.  It would be cruel to throw someone who didn't speak the language into this setting.  All the "cheap(er)" programs in France require at least 4-5 college level French courses before studying abroad.

The outside of the Musée

I'm finding that the 7 hour time difference (6 for my UT friends in Eastern time)  a bit of a hindrance.  Scheduling skype dates is difficult when I have to go to the kebob restaurant (since skype is blocked from the University internet), and my family doesn't even get home from work until I'm already asleep.  I still laugh when I log into facebook at 8 in the morning and see people updating status' about how they are just going to sleep.  My day is pretty much over by the time my friends and family begin to wake up. 

So, what have I been up to lately, you might wonder.  Welllll, last weekend, I spent Saturday morning sleeping in and being extremely lazy.  I needed to catch up on my sleep.  Having class at 9am on Fridays doesn't agree with my sleep schedule.  After I had sufficiently rested, my afternoon was devoted to skyping with my family.  I was extremely surprised when the video popped up and I saw about 7 people trying to share the screen. (My aunt, uncle, and cousins were visiting the Burg) They showed me their awesome breakfast which made me extremely jealous.  I don't necessarily miss the food, but I miss having a variety of food.  Since I have no way to cook anything, I eat a lot of sandwiches. 

Inside the Musée

Anyway, Skyping was followed by meeting up with a fellow Tennessean and heading over to the Musée des Beaux Arts in the heart of Nantes.  This fine arts museum closed this past Sunday in order to complete renovations over the course of the next two years.  Bummer, huh?  BUT, I got to see it twice (Once with my art history class, and again Saturday night) so I'm satisfied.  It was supposed to be a "night for young people" and was open (and free) until midnight on Saturday.  There were "demonstrations"  which reminded me a lot of what tv shows would show as interpretive dance.  It was one of the strangest things I've ever seen in my entire life...And I've seen a lot of strange things.  There were also art experts giving presentations on different works of art throughout the museum.

Crêpe avec un café crème...yessss.

At about 11:30pm, we decided to leave the museum and check out what goes on in the city of Nantes on a Saturday night.  We found a street near the Église Saint-Croix that was pretty crowded with people sitting outside the cafés with their beverages of choice.  We, however, thought that this would be the perfect time to order a crêpe!  I don't know how I managed to be in France for almost an entire month without having a crêpe, but I did.  I got the crêpe maison, which was a crepe with chocolate inside, and my friend Nick got a crêpe beurre-sucre.  Both were simply amazing.  I also got a café crème to accompany my crêpe.  (Sidenote:  Though I like French coffee, I've yet to find an equivalent to the coffee I had every morning in Costa Rica.  I miss that stuff. )

Late at night, the trams only run about every 30-45 minutes, so you have to time it just right if you want to catch one without having to sit around the tram stops where the crazies tend to come out....(even in broad daylight.)  So we had to wander around a bit before catching the tram, but no worries.  We got back, and all is well.

This weekend, a couple of friends and I are planning a day trip to La Baule...a beach city about an hour bus ride from Nantes.  We're going into centreville tomorrow to buy tickets, so hopefully everything will go smoothly.  I'm so ready to get out of Nantes if only for a day.  THEN, in a week and a half, I am going to visit my mom's friend, Veronique, in Chartres, and she's taking me to PARIS! I seriously cannot wait.  Mom met Veronique when she was studying abroad in France as an exchange student.  I've heard about her all my life, and I remember mom getting letters from her in the mail which I would make her translate for me. hah. Ah, so excited!

Abrupt change of subject ahead: But, this is something I've been meaning to mention for a while.  Being a pedestrian here is so different than in the US.  Yes, in the US, pedestrians have the right of way...but that doesn't mean that cars are going to stop for you to cross when the light is green.  Here, however, all I need to do is appear to have the intention to cross the street, and cars slam on their brakes.  It's a 180 from Costa Rica where if you walk out in front of a car, you get run over.  I'm usually pretty cautious when crossing the street, but it throws me for a loop when I'm standing on the curb looking for my perfectly timed moment to cross in order to not cause a disruption in traffic, and every single time, the cars stop!  I'm sure they point me out as a foreigner each time I apprehensively stand on the curb.  I'm getting better now at not waiting too long to cross.  I guess I'm just scarred by the memory of running across 5 lanes in Costa Rica just waiting to get hit by a truck.  Good times, good times.  :)  Well, that's all for tonight.  I'll try to blog more often instead of having one monster blog per week.

J'aime la France.

Nothing terribly exciting has happened within the past week, so I felt the need to make a list of the things I love about France. 

 I love buying baguettes.
I love the vast cheese selection.
I love taking the tram.
I love saying, "bon soir."
I love eavesdropping on French conversations.
I love how my car would fit right in.
I love taking the tram.
I love hearing people say, "merde."
I love that we had class at le Musée des Beaux Arts today just because we could. 
I love that I have to bring my own shopping bag to the grocery store.
I love how everything's a pâtisserie, boulangerie, brasserie, épicerie, pharmacie, sandwicherie, etc.
I love how my class starts at 9:30, but nobody gets there until at least 9:40.
I love being so close to the Loire river.
I love finding beautiful buildings on accident.
I love getting lost, but ending up somewhere incredible.
I love how scarves are essential.
I love ordering a café crème.
I love the itty bitty cups the regular café comes in.
I love the fact that they throw fries in a sandwich and call it "un sandwich americain."  (because we totally do that. ?)
I love ordering a quiche lorraine.
I love the paper.  It's like graph paper, but better.
I love plugging things in and hoping they won't explode.
I love how cheap bottled water is in the grocery store.... 0.18 centimes for 1,5l.
I love how the cafeteria only has jambon fromage and jambon beurre sandwiches. 
I love how everyone assumes that I knew every other American in the program before coming here.
I love trying to decipher french spoken by a Chinese person.  It's not easy. haha.
I love how close I am to Paris.
I love how they call McDonalds "McDo"...(pronounced Mac Dough)
I love the tiny 1¢ coins.


That's all I have for now.  À la prochaine!

La Vie Quotidienne

Two weeks down!  It's been probably the craziest two weeks of my entire life.  I'm beginning to get into the groove of daily life, so that's pretty much what this blog entry is going to be about.

I've finished my first week of classes, and my favorite class so far is actually Theater!  (Who would have thought, right?)  We don't have any written work, and we just go to class and basically make fools of ourselves.  Yesterday, for instance, we began the class by standing in two lines facing one another.  One group at a time, we were given an emotion to act out.  Then, our prof would shout out a different emotion, and we would have to immediately change.  For example:  "Quelque chose est très amusante......TRISTESSE!"  It was hilarious to watch the people across from us, and to realize how ridiculous we must look.  Another "exercise"  that we did was that we got into groups of four.  The first person was given something to act.  My group had, "Tu as peur de quelque chose."  Then, the prof would tell the 2nd person in the group, "plus!"  and to the third, she said, "PLUS, PLUS"   And to the 4th, "PLUS, PLUS, PLUS!!!"  By the end, the prof was yelling out of excitement, and the person acting was trying to look extremely scared. It was hilarious! Tomorrow, we're going to start working on the play that we're putting on at the end of the semester.  The play is "La Visite de la Vieille Dame."  It's a French adaptation of a German play.  Should be interesting. :)

 So, I thought it was finally time that I posted pictures of my room. It's verrrrrry small, but I'm liking it more now than I did when I first got here.  I have a little fridge and my own bathroom, so it could definitely be worse.  It has quite a bit of storage...in the form of these cubes.  They're actually kind of fun. haha. 

I finally bought a hair straightener this week.  This rainy weather and my hair were not getting along.  Now that I have a straightener, I can at least attempt to fix it.

I've almost gotten the hang of the art of baguette buying.  I've learned that after 2 days, your baguette will no longer be edible.  Unless you enjoy eating rocks.  I go just about every other day to the Express little grocery store down the street.  I've also learned that if you go earlier in the day, you have a much larger selection.  If you wait until dinner time, the French people have gotten off work and have swarmed the store for all the good baguettes.  I've also bought a knife and a plate with the sole purpose in mind being to cut and eat my baguettes.  I enjoy making my own jambon, beurre, & fromage sandwiches for dinner, breakfast, any meal really.  I've also bought a jar of the store brand Nutella which accompanies my baguette quite nicely.

Another thing I've realized....Ever wondered why the French people drink so much wine?....One reason...It's cheaper than a soda.  I've seen bottles of wine in the store for less than 2 euros.  A 20oz. Coca Cola in a restaurant...2.40.  That's more than 3 dollars, folks.  Sheesh. I have had a few cokes while I've been here, but I usually try to buy them at the grocery store where they're a bit cheaper.

Sunday, I decided to hit up all the Nantes "tourist spots" that I'd not yet seen.  I first went to L'Isle de Nantes to see the famous Elephant.  It's a "machine elephant that walks and moves realistically.  It's actually pretty cool.  I would not have paid for a ride, though, because the thing only moves about a mile an hour and the ride lasts for 45 minutes.  Yikes.  Anyway, I took pictures and was satisfied.  I then started to head toward the Cathédrale de Nantes since I'd not yet seen it during the day...BUT, I heard music coming from inside the "Château des ducs de Bretagne."  You see, Nantes used to be the capital of the Brittany region of France.  It was later moved to the Pays de la Loire region.   Turns out that entrance into the chateau was free because of a music festival, so I got to walk around inside the grounds of the castle for free which usually costs 5 euros.  I love free things. :)

After that, I continued on to my previous destination of the Cathedrale...  In front of the cathedrale, I actually ran into the American that was in my intensive class the first 3 days!  He was on a search to scour out the best hotels for when his parents visit in October.  So, we spent the next like 4 hours half looking for hotels, and half being distracted by awesome things to see.  There are so many cool buildings to see in this city.

Unfortunately, the weekend ended, and classes began again.  Monday and Tuesday are actually really short for me.  I only have one class each of those days.  Wednesdays, on the other hand....are horrible.  I have three classes in a row.  Each class is TWO HOURS LONG.   It's exhausting.  Though it is getting much easier to be able to understand without having to work too hard.  I'm even beginning to get better at eavesdropping in French. haha.  Not the best skill, but definitely fun. :) 

I know this blog has been kind of all over the place.  I'll try to blog more often.  À bientôt!

Here are some pictures from Sunday:

One of the cute French houses near my dorm.

L'Elephant

La Loire

Le Château

The music festival in the chateau

Two adorable French women walking in the castle.  I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Cathédrale de Nantes

Basilique Saint-Nicolas

Rue Jean de la Fontaine!

This was a "mall" like thing that we stumbled upon.  It was so cool!

La Cigale....Le restaurant le plus connu à Nantes

Église Notre-Dame du Bon-Port

Le Week-end!

So last night (Friday night)  I went out exploring for the first time at night.  The city looks completely different at night, and oh so pretty.  I went with my Canadian friend, and we found the carnival that is here until the end of September.  It reminded me a lot of the county fair back home except that instead of funnel cakes, there were crêpes! Similar to the candied apples in the US, there were apples covered in chocolate called , "pommes d'amour" for 1 euro.  It was actually really good.  I would have gotten a crêpe, but they were about 5 euros, and until I get my stipend, that's too much. 

The most interesting thing about the carnival was this ride that was similar to the "swings."  The difference is that I would be TERRIFIED to ride on these swings.  So, basically, there was a rope dangling above the swings, and as you went by, you were supposed to reach and try to catch it....for the reward of one of those carnival stuffed animal prizes.  The thing is that these swings were so close together that the people would hold on to the person in front of them and propel them towards the rope whenever they would pass it.  People were twisting around one another and bumping into each other like crazy!  The image I was seeing in my head of what could go wrong was awful.

 Today, I was on a mission to find somewhere to skype.  It's completely different just talking to someone through email than on skype.   First, I went to this little restaurant in the mall where I thought I would be able to use wifi.  Even though there is a huge sign on the wall that says, "ICI WI-FI: Gratuit,"  apparently you have to have some kind of special card.  Anyway, I asked one of the workers at a little store in the mall, and they told me that I should go to McDonalds.  (Which is in the middle of the city, and I was on the north side.) To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here's the tram map:  My dorm is off of line 2 (the red line) at the stop called Bourgeonnière.  The mall is at the end of line 2 at Orvault-Grand Val.  The centreville is at the stop called Commerce.  that's the stop where all the lines intersect, and where all the shops in the city are. 

Anyway, I got on the tram to Commerce and found McDonalds.  Even though it was about an hour after I had told them to be waiting for me, I got to skype with Mom, Dad, and Grandmother for a while, and then with Brook.  It was really good to have finally found a way to do that.  Even if I can only skype once a week or so, it's better than never.  

After skyping for a while and getting strange looks from all the French people walking by because I was speaking English, we went to go to find the big electronics store called "Fnac"  It's kind of like best buy, but with a completely different vibe.  This store makes you feel cool just by being in it.  Everything was really expensive, but it's not surprising, considering that everything is expensive here except baguettes....Seriously, I bought one for .30 cents the other day. 

By 7:30 here, all the stores are closing. The smaller ones actually close even earlier.   It still surprises me since it doesn't even start to get dark until 9pm.  You would think that if they close this early that they must open up at 7 or 8 in the morning, right?  Nope.  The stores here actually start to open around 10am.  Typical French. 

So now I'm back in my itty bitty dorm room.  I will take pictures of it as soon as it's suitably clean.  Bonne nuit!

Oh, yeah. I'm actually here to take classes.

It's been one week, but it feels like I've been here much longer.  The craziness of trying to get all my "arrival to do list" finished has been a tad bit stressful, but yesterday started the beginning of my actual daily routine, and I think that things will definitely go up from here. 


I'm the IRFFLE program here at l'Université de Nantes.  This just means that I'm taking classes that just pertain to learning the French language.  We're grouped together with people that are the same level as we are....Though, I think that everyone in my class is far superior to me, but oh well.  I somehow managed to be placed into the C1 level...which is the 2nd highest level.  I seriously feel like everyone in my class has either lived in France for over a year or has a French parent.  No fair, right? I feel like a fraud being in the same level with all these people.


Anyway, my day yesterday started out like all the others. I watched my computer spark as I plugged it in and wondered for the 100th time if if would actually explode this time.  Then, I had my petit-déjeuner of a yogurt and headed off to class.  My first class of the day was my composition class which was two and a half hours long!  AND, the sun was baking me through the window.  I was actually squinting in order to see the professor.  I won't make the same mistake and sit next to the window ever again in a morning class.  By the way, the windows in these classrooms are enormous....as in covering an entire wall from floor to ceiling.  I've deducted that this is because the electricity sometimes just doesn't work.  Yeah, no electricity randomly during the day.  The class isn't actually too bad.  My professor enunciates very well, and I was able to understand everything she said.  She also bursts out into laughter randomly during the lecture.  She thinks she's very funny which is quite amusing to me. :)


After my first class, a couple other Americans and I headed over the cafeteria to grab a sandwich before our next class.  Second class of the day was another 2 hours. Culture française...with a professor who wore jeans and a bright plaid shirt and has long hair.  He also mumbles a little bit, so he's a little bit more difficult to understand, but overall, not too bad.


The third class was another 2 hour long class....(Wednesdays are not my favorite)  This is one of the classes that I got to choose.  It is a class about the History of French and European Art.  It doesn't seem like it's going to be too much work, and the prof is very animated and interesting.  Before you judge me for choosing History of Art, take into account that my other choices were Litterature, History of France, Phonetics, and preparation for the DALF.  yikes.


Ok, on to today!  I only had two classes today, so I wasn't so completely worn out tonight as yesterday.  My first class of the day was Theater.   I was late by about 5 minutes to this class because...#1. The paper said the class was in room 441.  #2.  The paper didn't say which building.  I made the mistake of looking in the building where ALL my other classes are. Nope.  It's totally not there.  Apparently I was supposed to know this just by looking at the room number that it was in the "C.I.F." building.  As it turns out, about half the people were even later than I was, so it wasn't too big of a deal.  So, my theater class is extremely interesting.  We began the day by introducing ourselves...by walking across the room and forcefully saying our names over and over again.  (?)  Then we had to pick a character to be...I've never taken an acting class, so this should be extremely interesting....and it's acting in French. oh boy.   There's actually a play that we're all going to be in later this semester.  I plan on standing in the back and maybe having one line.  Hopefully this class will help my pronunciation or something. haha.


So after class, I was heading to the cafeteria when the married Irish couple from my theater class asked me if I'd like to come to their home for a "wee bite."  Well, of course, I would.  Turns out they were both French teachers back in Ireland and they're here now because the husband is preaching at a church here!  They invited me over Sunday after church for lunch, so maybe I'll go?  Their home is super cute and only about a 2 minute walk from my dorm.  They also said I could come over and use their internet to skype at some point...after they get it up and running. haha. 


After a quick sandwich, I headed back to the school for my second class which is L'expression orale.  We basically just had conversation for an hour and a half which was fine by me.  So, I've met all my professors, and I'm not too scared yet.  I think it will be ok as long I can keep up with all these ridiculously good french speakers in my class.

After class, I went to the Maison d'Echange to turn in my bank info so that I can hopefully get my stipend sometime soon.   Then, since I was already on the tram, I decided to just head on over to the "mall" that everyone has been talking about.  I went to the main store there (It could be compared to a Walmart...except bigger!) and bought some much needed items...I bought my first baguette (30 cents) and also a knife to cut it with...slightly more expensive at 2 euros.  I got a plate for 60 cents...since I'd been making a mess without one...and a shopping bag!  If you go to the grocery store without your own, you have to pay 3 cents per bag.  So I got my own reusable one so I can blend in a little more. haha.  I also scouted out the little cafe with free wifi from where I'll hopefully have some skype dates on Saturday.  :)

À bientôt.

Exploring Nantes

So, yesterday evening, I came to the sad realization that I will not be able to skype anyone from my dorm because the university network has blocked it. When I figured this out, I got really sad for a few hours. I didn't know how I would make it 4 months without skype, but then I realized that it doesn't have to be as bad as I was making it out to be....I do have a telephone, and I can buy a phone card to, at least, have phone chats with people.   So, I will rely on you people facebook/ emailing me often!   I'll even accept snail mail!  Who knows, it may be good for me to not be skyping all the time.  This way, I'll be able to focus on learning French and talking advantage of all the opportunities around me.  It will all be ok. :)

Yesterday, I had my first "intensive French class" with my first ever professor who didn't speak any English!  It was definitely a new experience to not be able to ask him the meaning of a word, and instead trying to figure out his explanation in french and sometimes decode his terrible whiteboard drawing.  The other interesting thing is that my class is made up of about 10 Germans, 5 Italians, and about 5 other people from places like Poland, Finland, and Mexico. Then, there's me and the one other American...I was beginning to think that I was the only one in the program.  The funniest thing is that he's from Chattanooga, TN!  Small world, right?    Overall, though, the class went fairly well.  I needed a review of all that basic grammar that I had in French 333 two years ago. Let's just say that I was a bit rusty.

Today was a much better day...I've gotten over the whole "no skype" thing and I was in a much better mood. I slept in late until about 10:30 and then decided to go wander around the city a little bit.  I had my camera and was ready to take advantage of the beautiful day.  I started by taking the tram about halfway to the city center....right where the Loire River meets the tram tracks.  Then, I remembered that today is the jazz festival that everybody has been talking about.  Since it was so early in the day, they were still setting up, so I just started walking.  I honestly had no idea where I was most of the time, but I wasn't a bit nervous.  I actually stumbled upon a castle and two cathedrals!  The best part is that the locals just start conversations with me...on the street, on the tram, in the stores... I love it!  I can usually hold a pretty good conversation.  There have been a few times, though that the people talk really quickly or they mumble, and I can't understand fully.  Oh well.  I'll get better. 


After wandering for about 2 hours, I finally walked right back into the city center, and I was no longer lost!   I got a "pain du chocolat" for brunch and began walking around the "commerce" area of the city where the majority of the shops are.  I found this really cute little bookstore and spent nearly an hour looking at all the books!  In Knoxville, I get extremely excited whenever I find a French book in McKay.  As you might imagine, being in this bookstore felt amazing!  I didn't buy anything, however, since everything was fairly expensive, but it was still an hour well spent. Since the tram in the city center was shut down due to the festival, I started walking to the nearest working stop.  Meanwhile, I stopped for a little while to listen to a jazz band playing on a boat on the river.  He was singing in English which threw me off for a minute.  I didn't understand much of what he was saying until he sang, "If you don't want to dance, just clap your hands" over and over again. 

Anyway, here's some pictures from wandering around Nantes: 

Chateau Breton

A Street artist

Cathedrale

Watching a jazz band play on the boat.

Chess tournament

Crêperie!

La Loire

Nantes...le premier jour

Hello from France!   I’ve been here a little over a day and a half, and I’m definitely loving Nantes.  The city is amazing, and the people are incredibly helpful.   I’ve already asked for directions several times, and each time, they stop and help me with a smile on their face.  I feel very welcomed as a foreigner. 

Anyway, my 24 hours of travelling went as planned for once in my life….no flight changes or delays! I arrived at exactly the time I’d planned with only a small injury.  (My suitcase decided to attack my arm while I was removing it from the luggage rack on the train, and I have a nice little bruise to show for it….ok, a quite large bruise.)  The 3 flights were not terrible, and I suggest Air Canada to anyone out there who is maybe a little taller than the average person. I’ve never had so much leg room on a flight…  by the time the train ride came along, I was extremely exhausted.  I couldn’t stay awake on the train to save my life.  I wanted to stay awake and look at the scenery, but there was no way.  I woke up for about 2 seconds each time the train stopped, listened for the city name, and fell back asleep.    Nantes has a tramway system for public transportation which I had to take as soon as I exited the train station….with all my luggage.  It wasn’t easy, but I made it to the Maison d’Echange, my first stop, fairly easily, but I was extremely tired from not having slept for about 28 hours at that point.  I actually met another exchange student on the train who is from Austria!  We recognized each other by the large luggage and lost expressions. Haha..  There, I got put into a room with several other international students, where we waited for our turn to be checked in.  I was so tired that all I wanted to do was lie down on the table and take a nap. Haha…but I resisted and, after check in, began my attempt to find my dorm.  Even though they had told me that I would not be able to stay there the first night, it was available…which I wish they’d told me in advance so that I wouldn’t have had to pay for the hotel too since I hadn’t cancelled 24 hours in advance.  Oh well. 

I wandered around for a good 30 minutes trying to find my dorms.  They were fairly well hidden.  After asking about 3 people who had no idea where it was, I finally saw this guy around my age walking with a backpack!   He was going to the same place!  So, I hauled my luggage to the dorm and left immediately to go find dinner and buy a local phone, since everyone seemed to have one except for me.  Oh, by the way, I’ve not met any other student from the United States.   Everyone is from Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, etc.  It was so strange.  I did, however meet one person from Canada who is also in the ISEP program….She is actually the only person I’ve met from ISEP.  Everyone else is ERASMUS (from Europe).  Anyway, I love this city.  It’s on the Loire River, so the river just winds throughout the whole city.  It’s gorgeous.  There are boats everywhere you look and the whole city is pretty clean.  I was walking around alone, but never once felt uncomfortable.  So,  I bought myself a little pay as you go phone and also a quiche lorraine for dinner at a little shop in the city center.  I got back to my room around 7 and attempted to unpack, but fell asleep right after putting my sheets on my bed.  I was “just going to rest for a few minutes.”  Yeah, right.  So, I woke up at 2am not knowing what time it was and slightly disoriented…I’d not yet even set my alarm clock to the right time.  I scrambled to find my watch, and opened my computer just to make sure it was actually that time.    Then, I went back to sleep and woke up again at 8 because I had to be at the school at 9 to take the placement exam. 

I happened to run into my friend from Canada, so we stuck together hoping that we were in the right place.   Right before the test, they made an announcement that if you weren’t an ERASMUS student that you were in the wrong place.  After we raised our hands, they said that we were ok because we were in a cooperation with the university….Anyway, my name was on the list when I turned in my exam, so I guess it was ok?  Haha, I have no idea.  After the exam, I went to get my student id and pay my lovely 200€ fee for social security.  That was painful, but at least it meant that I got my internet access code!  After that, I stopped at a sandwich shop for a ham and cheese for lunch and went back to my room to actually unpack and get online. 

So, my room is extremely small, but not bad.  It has a bed, a desk, and shelves.  The bathroom is approximately the size of an airplane bathroom… which has taken some getting used to.  Showering is definitely an adventure when your shower is about two feet long and two feet wide.  I’ll post pictures as soon as I have it clean enough. Haha.  Everything’s just kind of thrown wherever it will fit right now.           

After taking about a two hour break, I went back into the city center to walk around a little and find dinner.  I got back to my room around 7 and took another unintentional nap.  This time, I woke up at 10 instead of 2, though.  Hopefully, I’ll catch up on sleep soon and won’t have to sleep 12 hours a day to feel rested.  I’ve pretty much figured out the tram system, which is really easy and super convenient.  Now, I am going back to sleep since I have my first intensive French class tomorrow morning at 9:30.  Goodnight!