Conversation et Conservation

Today was my first real day in France, and I wasted the entire morning sleeping! It's okay, though - sleeping all morning today meant that I didn't waste all of yesterday sleeping. Today, I used the métro. M. de la Taille took me on the métro to the CUPA building. We found Renée waiting outside with her host mother. She hadn't remembered the address and she was searching through folders. Inside the CUPA building, we had an introduction, a test, then a snack. They had macaroons (they're different in France - they're just like little high quality oreos that are different flavors)! Then, I met Alexandra by her dorm, and we had some champagne to celebrate my arrival! The only problem was that neither of us had any idea how to open it. I swear, we're the most pathetic college students in the world! That glass of champagne, plus the two glasses of wine I've had with meals with my family, plus the glass of wine I had in Canada Friday night, plus the Pina Colada in Jamaica, and finally the glass of wine I had at the Italian restaurant my first time in Paris - those are all the legal drinks I've ever had!

I've spoken French now for the majority of the last two days. It's a little exhausting, always concentrating on another language, but it's quickly getting easier. I had a really long conversation with this guy on the RER today - he had an adorable dog named Diego and he was telling me stories about the dog and how he ran away once. I hope he couldn't tell I was American.

My family's apartment just keeps getting better. Maybe I was just too tired to appreciate it at first, but it's really nice. I think my room's just a little smaller than my dorm room this past semester, and the bed is infinitely more comfortable. There's a TV in my room too, and maybe I'll get around to watching it eventually. There's even a bean bag chair! I always wanted one of those. And, to me, it seems like this apartment complex is really cost-minded, which definitely isn't a bad thing. The lights in the hallways are always off unless you turn them on, and then they turn off after you leave. They don't have a dryer (which the CUPA director had mentioned before), and they line dry all their clothes. And, it seems like a ton of people here use public transportation instead of their own cars. Maybe this is why the Euro is so much stronger than the dollar (yes, I know that's not the proper economic term - ask my dad or my brother for the truth).

And, just for fun, I added a picture of the library where the l'OuLiPo meeting will be on Thursday!