Bisous

Bisous de France. It's pretty surreal - walking around Paris, feeling like I'm on vacation, and knowing that it's going to continue for 8 more months. Getting on the plane was a little hectic, but once I boarded, a little teen novel came to my rescue and occupied all of my 14 hours of traveling with no more than a 20 minute nap and some minor conversation. Thank you Stephenie Meyer.

After finally reaching my destination and being shown my room, I was a little shocked by a little friend that was guarding my bedroom door.

I can't say I'm surprised as there are a few other odd furnishings in my room, but it is comforting to know that I'll be sleeping safely in my bunk bed. That's right, bunk bed :-)

I was a little freaked out and stressed out with nerves and fatigue when getting here so I took a little walk around the Parc de Sceaux which is 5 minutes from my apartment. Ummm, wow! Here's a little sampling of what I saw at each corner I turned.

Le Chateau
La Fontaine

The fountain is so big that some old men were fishing from it. Not my idea of yummy tasting fish, but still. It's huge!

I was having some regrets about my living situation after taking a freezing cold shower this morning with no sign of it ever warming up, but since talking with Eva and learning that the hot and cold dials are switched, I'm rethinking my decision to jump ship.

Today was my first day touring Paris. I met up with some other teaching assistants at the Jardin du Luxembourg for a little picnic lunch. I really couldn't get enough.


After the park, we wandered a bit and decided to discover La Catedrale de Notre-Dame. Excusez-moi for mistyping all of my French words. I haven't quite figured out how to use french accents yet :-) Although Google definitely has some automated redirects based on my IP address. Au revoir Google's USA main page and Bonjour Google France. I thought my LeapFrog web-team might like to see this in action :-)


I remembered the Notre-Dame from my highschool AP art classes. I felt a little like Ms. Hornbeck as I was snapping my pictures inside the cathedral. They weren't illegal like a lot of her slides though ;) Most cathedrals aren't too uplifting to me, but this one was amazing. Aside from the beautifully high ceilings, the light and color from the windows were jaw-droppingly beautiful.

In closing this inaugural entry, I'd like to share two myths about French people that I've dispelled in just two days.

Myth #1: French people are rude. Not true. In fact, the rudest person I've encountered so far on my trip was a woman named Grace at the United counter in SFO.

Myth #2: Maybe it was just me, but I always thought that French people never exercised, beyond purposeful walking that is. They are just naturally skinny despite eating croissants and pastries for breakfast every morning. Well, I visited the Parc de Sceaux in Antony the day of my arrival and sure enough there were lots of joggers and runners. I did see one woman running and some men playing tennis in jeans though. Thank goodness for the recent fad of stretch jeans. I'm sure it has enhanced their performance some.

xoxo,
Kristine