My love affair with this city...

Everything has been going so much better since the first days where I was sleep deprived/hungry/not able to sleep. All of you who know me know how bad I am when that happens. It's a miracle I met anyone! ha

Our 3 day orientation/walk tours have gone by pretty quickly. They were actually not that bad. I really enjoyed the walking tours of the Eiffel Tower region (Today) and then the Mid-Evil district/Louvre. The other day was, as I mentioned, spent talking about culture shock, stereotypes and adjusting to life in Europe. I'm thinking I won't be too homesick, though. I'm not much a homebody and I go to school a bit away from Saint Louis. Plus, over Spring Break/Easter break my family and my grammy will be coming. I'm looking forward to sharing my new city with them. Kate's grandma said she would buy her a ticket to come see me. I'm sure what I share with her will be quite different then with the family. Although, who knows!

Last night one of my roommates and I made dinner for some people. Well, lets be honest, we all know I don't cook so I was the assistant really. Oh well, It was really good (and inexpensive)! We made pasta with sauce, fresh veggies, a cucumber/tomato salad, a baguette and three bottles of French wine for 11.25 Euros! What a deal! It was nice to have a good meal.

Tonight is going to be our first real night out since tomorrow, Friday, we only have a meeting from 10 a.m. until around noon. There is a big group of people going to the Latin district of Paris. This is near the Eiffel Tower just for navigational sense. We opted for the Latin area because we have all heard that this is most like the American college bar scene (we're not quite ready for the full blown European Discotheques!) I'm excited for this! I do miss my friends from home though. I find myself often catching myself wanting to share something or make a joke to people at home. In true Becky style today, someone made a "Don't taze me bro!" reference! I was so excited!

My culinary skills were nothing short of spectacular with the standard Ashley grilled cheese.

I'm looking forward to classes starting and getting into somewhat of a routine. So far its been 8-6 p.m everyday. I'll be grateful when I feel like I have more downtime and time to explore.

The Louvre is open on Friday nights for free so we're planning on starting some Friday nights at the Louvre. Not quite Milwaukee, eh? Also, France, unlike America, really only has sales twice a year. The first of the biyearly sales ends in a week or so. Our guide told us today about high end fashion stores that send there clothes to retailers who mark down the prices down "dramatically." My expectations for these markdowns are not very high so hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised.

We are already in the process of planning Spring Break vacations because they often have amazing flight deals. We have about five different Web sites where you can find good deal. So far the big winner is Greece! How amazing would that be? Maybe i'll be like the girl in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! I have some fun photos so far but I'm already missing my mom taking pictures at every possible second. I find my skills are not quite up to par.

Well I'm off, I'm introducing Erica to Michael Buble's music over some red wine before we go out.

Bon Soir mon amis!

Ps-Earlier tonight I blew out the power in our apartment trying to get my American electric products to work! No harm done and the power was back on in five minutes. I feel better because I'm not the first one to do that on our floor.