at the risk of looking like a complete tourist...

well, so much for going out last night. one minute it was 6:30 pm, and we were eating spaghetti, next thing i know, it's midnight. seriously, time just FLIES here. it's so weird! a couple people from the program, kevin and amanda, came over, and we all had intended on going somewhere but just got to talking and lost track of time. so i guess good conversation is worth it.

today, we went on an outrageous bike tour. our program director, karl, was very adamant that we wore helmets and ponchos if it started to rain. as soon as he felt a single drop of rain, he insisted that we put on our neon green, absolutely ridiculous ponchos. i'm pretty sure it rained for about 3 seconds. i'm also pretty sure that a lot of people laughed at us. this is NOT my idea of fashionable! i'm trying to blend in here, people!

the good news is, there is a ben and jerry's** down the street from our apartment and bridgette and i felt we deserved a couple scoops.

tomorrow is the placement exam and even more orientation! i think i'm going to read my french-english dictionary from front to back tonight. my goal of being able to dream seems a bit far-fetched right now, so i need to get to work!

here is the outside of my apartment! 33 rue du four! lots of shopping on this street.

this is what it looks like when you get past the big door and then through another gate. our apartment is through the green door on the right and up about 1,200 windy stairs at the very top. pictures of the inside once it's clean! :)

bonne nuit, mes amis!

-molly

bonjour, paris!

i arrived in paris at about 9:25 am, which is 2:25 am central time! i tried desperately to sleep on the plane, but probably got about 30 minutes tops. how can anyone sleep on planes in coach? they must purposely make it impossible. i sat next to this nice older lady, who is originally from france. she probably thought i had the intelligence of a grapefruit though because i had no idea how to respond to any of her french questions. oh great. bring on the placement exam.

my apartment is super cute! i'm not a huge fan of the kitchen, but that just means i'll have to eat at cafés more.

last night we had our "welcome dinner" where i had escargot. i've tried it before, so it wasn't a big deal, but our program director seemed to think so. i realize escargot is snail, but who cares? it all tastes the same to me. plus, they were cooked in a garlic pesto, and i LOVE me some pesto!**

it's a saturday, so obviously we're going out tonight! wine sells cheap here so it's good to know i can spend my money mostly on shopping and not all on alcohol. (haha, mom!)

AND one last thing, sex and the city 2 comes out here on june 2nd! can't wait to see it AGAIN!

these are the escargot(s)! i had to pick them out of the shell with a little tiny fork!

my roommates and i after dinner. molly in the middle and bridgette on the right. ignore my awkward pose and the fact that we're lined up like stairs.

bon journée!

-molly