Villa Clara

So I finally moved in to my luxurious residence, on the first floor of Villa Clara. My propriétaire, Clara Limage, is a fantastic woman. She is incredibly nice and welcoming, and even forgave me for breaking a glass on the first day (which I was kind of freaking out about). I've posted some pictures of the place on Facebook and a few below-- I actually can't believe how beautiful this house is. And I'm paying about the same as most people in the program.

The advantage of living in the house is that I get to speak a bit more french-- Clara's begun to speak to me mostly in french, except when she get's frustrated if I don't understand something (which is happening less and less) or if she wants to be cute (she spoke to me entirely in English the first time I met her, which I found out is because she likes to show off). I met her 13-year-old son Elias too, who seems to speak english as well, as all he's said to me is hello and sorry. I was a bit concerned at first about having to share the kitchen, but all she asked was that I let her have access to the kitchen during dinner time.

The house comes complete with a maid who comes once a week to clean my room and does the dishes and cleans the rest of the house daily. The maid is a really sweet Romanian woman whose name escapes my mind at the moment. She seems to speak French fluently, though Clara kind of dismisses her and says I likely speak more French than she does while rolling her eyes-- even though she's lived here for more than 10 years, Clara seems to think of her only as an immigrant, and the French are very weird about immigrants.

I went to the supermarket today for the first time and was able to find skim milk for lactose intolerant people, which is quite rare in france (both skim milk and milk for lactose intolerant people are rare, so the combination of the two was quite auspicious) and went on to eat 3 bowls of cereal. I also discovered that you're supposed to weigh the produce yourself in the produce section and not at the register. I got some stares :-/

I also went out to a club for the first time-- it wasn't anything terribly special, but it was fun to finally get a chance to go out and dance. Anyways, I must go to bed now, though I did want to include some pictures, so here goes. More updates to come:

These advertisements are all over the metro.

If you can't read it, it says "Un matelas 100% Latex à ce prix là?
... c'est d'la bombe, Darling!" which translates as "a 100% latex matress at that price? ..it's the bomb, Darling!"

Rough Start

So I've been quite sick for the past few days, but I'm finally feeling better. I had a sinus infection for a while, which wasn't a big deal, then I got a horrible stomach bug, and I had to call the SOS doctor (a service for abroad students) and he made a "house call" to my room at the hostel. He didn't speak any English and was very impatient with me as I was writhing in pain on my bed, trying to understand his instructions about the 3 medications he was prescribing for me.

I slept about 18 hours yesterday and about 12 hours today, and I'm feeling a lot better. I even ate 2 meals today. I got to skype with my Mom, which was really comforting-- I think no matter how old you get, it's always nice to talk to your Mom when you're sick. It's kind of a bummer to see everyone going out and enjoying the city while I'm taking it easy here at the FIAP (the hostel), but I have 5 months here and I'm sure I will be spending plenty of time partying.

I picked out my apartment Wednesday afternoon-- it's technically a room in someone's house, but it's super super nice. The propriétaire (landlord) is nice, and speaks perfect English (not necessarily ideal) and has had more plastic surgery than anyone I've ever met. Chris Keel, another Brown student, lives in the other room, and I'm really excited to go party with him. The apartment is in a really nice area right next to the red-light district, which is more touristy now than prostitute-y.

I'm optimistic about the coming weeks, when I'll be posting about all the crazy adventures I'll be having.

Settling In

I arrived safely. I was in Ireland for about six hours, which was an interesting experience-- everyone was blond-haired and blue-eyed and wore green. I was flying in an airplane with giant shamrocks on it so it was hard for me to take the situation seriously.

By the time I got to the hostel we're staying in, I hadn't slept for 24 hours and I was bewildered by everything-- I was nervous about being alone and sleep-deprived and trying to find some place to eat, but a girl from Brown saw me as I was standing in the middle of the lobby befuddled and she gave me a pomegranite to eat, which I had never done before.

I don't think the concierge likes me very much because I asked if we could store computers and stuff in the baggagerie and he said "aucune chose de valeur" (nothing of value), but then I discovered 50c lockers there and put my things of valeur in them, but then I got a bag stuck in them because I stuffed too much in and needed his help to open it, which involved manhandling the door and shaking the whole set of lockers.

There was a really cute 2-year-old at lunch today who kept pointing to things and saying what they were, which was actually really helpful. She was incredibly fascinated with her scarf and proud that she knew what it was called (écharpe, though she pronounced it more like ayshah), and when we gave her attention she got really excited and giggled and started waving at us furiously.

720pm-745am Boston-Dublin, 1145am-220pm Dublin-Paris

Very excited, very congested.