Class, Food, and a short Walk in Paradise

Class started today; my how out-of-routine I have already become in the past 2 weeks of summer! The French class lasted a little under 1.5 hours and consisted of the alphabet, basic phrasing and some pronunciation. Our teacher spoke ONLY in French which made any comprehension difficult but the total immersion will be beneficial in the end. My pronunciation sucks at this point but I practice on any word I see walking aimlessly through the streets of Paris so hopefully in the coming weeks, I will capable of saying 'r's without sounding like an idiot! Our stats class, which is our primary purpose for being here (yeah right), lasted a good 3.5 hours and moved at a quick pace but everything is manageable for now. Dr. Dunn is quite possibly the nicest professor in the department and is very willing to tailor the work load to our needs.

Post class, I went back home and stopped at rue de Rivoli for some quick shopping. Bought an amazing pair of shorts and a really cool German-esque shirt from Zara before stopping at a Monoprix for fresh groceries. I was pleasantly surprised at the inexpensive food I found in the mini-market which will save me lots of money in the long run. The entire group met up at le Petit Picard near the Notre Dame for an incredible 3-course French meal (pictures of everything are on facebook, per usual!). Everything was spot-on delicious and the chilled Pinot Noir was refreshing! So far, the food has been very impressive every day.

We left the restaurant after an hour of chatting and made our way to the court in front of the Notre Dame to watch some fire-throwers juggle flames for our pleasure! Everything was so picturesque but my camera sucks at taking dark pictures. In the coming days, I plan on getting pictures from other students whose cameras perform better at night (heh!) so everyone can get a good appreciation of the beauty! Our walk to le Louvre took a good 50 minutes because we continually stopped to enjoy the weather, the smells, the sites, and really enjoyed everything about Paris. After a few minutes at the glass pyramids at le Louvre, we made our way back down rue de Rivoli to come home!

It is definitely bed time, though; I have to get up at 830 again tomorrow for another 6 hours of class and more walking.

Au revoir!