Ma Famille!

Today was a SUPER busy day. Again. But a good one!

My first night’s sleep in Paris was a little rough. My brain wanted to wake up at 3 in the morning but my body wanted to sleep so they had a little battle going on for a few hours. I had to get up at 8 to shower (Side note: the shower had a nozzle head that GLOWED different colors when it was on different temperatures. SO COOL!) and pack up from the hotel, so once again I’m a little sleep deprived. Hopefully that will pass with time here!

After showering and packing a little bit, the hotel provided breakfast for us. I had orange juice, yogurt, and a piece of a baguette with cheese. Not too shabby for a hotel breakfast! A lot of the group came down in their pajamas, which apparently is an American thing and NOT a French thing. Luckily I was dressed and not stared at as much.

After breakfast, Dr. Olivier wanted to meet us at the lobby at noon, so we all met up and he started calling taxis to take us to our respective host families. He started calling off departure times and our family wasn’t going to be ready for us until 6:00pm. That meant that Amy and I had six hours to kill! Oh man, what could we possibly do in Paris for 6 hours? Walk. A lot.

We took the metro and made sure to purchase and charge our “Cartes Navigo” (metro passes) for the month of May. We were given envelopes on the first day of being in Paris with the location name of where we’d be staying and the zones we would have to get a pass for. We’re in zone 4! It may be in the suburbs of Paris but we are SO lucky to have those 4 zones paid for! That means that we can go to Disneyland, Versailles, and Fontainebleu without having to pay extra! (The students staying in the city have only zones 1-2 paid for so they have to pay extra to take trains to those places). Anyway, we charged our passes and took the Metro to a new place...L’Arch de Triomphe! Amy and I were starving though so we walked down the road to “Paul” and got a baguette to go. I decided to be a little more adventurous today and ordered a sesame baguette with lettuce and Camembert (a French cheese). It was delicious! Definitely different, but I really enjoyed it.

We walked around L’Arch de Triomphe for a while looking for an entrance to get in, but it cost a lot to get up and we didn’t feel like waiting in line. So...we walked down Les Champs Elysees! Cartier, Chanel, if it’s fancy - they have it. So cool!

Time was winding down, so we decided to take the metro back a little early and grab our stuff. Lucky we did because not long after we arrived, our taxi was there! It was a Mercedes-Benz taxi (tres chic) but the whole drive was a total rip off! It cost 58 Euros to get to our host family’s house! But whatever, he got us there safely...kind of.

When we arrived in our neighborhood (Croissy Sur Seine), there were two #9’s on our street and three houses between the two numbers. That led to much confusion, leading us to wander with our numerous suitcases/backpacks up and down the street for a while. Embarassing? Yes. Stressful? Yes. But we finally dragged our suitcases down a long gravel driveway and voila! We found it! I knocked on the door and our host dad opened it and welcomed us with a lot of enthusiasm. They’re great! Monsieur et Madame de GRANDMAISON have been hosting students from BYU for 10 years. They love doing it! As soon as we walked in, we were offered juice, a tour of the house, and they helped us take our luggage it. We gave them our host gift (pancake mix, a card by a St. Louis artist who I’m totally blanking on, and some St. Louis postcards. We’re teaching them how to make pancakes in the next couple of weeks. They’re excited!

After a tour, Madame showed us everything about where we’re living. Our house is on the property where Napoleon Bonaparte met Josephine. Crazy, right?! So cool. We went for a drive in her car around the city and she showed us our train stop, the grocery store, and the downtown area. Our house is also like...right next to the Seine river, so we drove on a gorgeous road right next to it. Madame is also a major marathon runner!!!! She says that she runs on the trails along the Seine every day and you can go up to 20 miles if you want to. It’s also very safe so I’m excited to try that! Running in Paris...I seriously can’t wait. She asked if I wanted to do a race with her while I was here but they’re always on Sunday mornings, so I can’t. So sad. It was really sweet of her to ask though!

After showing us the town,we had 30 minutes before dinner to get settled into our rooms. My room is really interesting. It walks out onto a balcony and I have what Madame called, “a meditation loft” in my room. I don’t know how often I’ll go up there but it’s still awesome! Amy and I share a bathroom and W.C. and it’s just a really great place. I think I’m going to love it here!

At 8:30pm, Madame de Grandmaison called us down to dinner. We had quiche Lorraine, salad, bread, rice, and ham for dinner and then cheese (Camembert, chevre, et Roquefort), bread, yogurt, and a little cookie for dessert. Everything was delicious!...minus the Roquefort, that is. I’ll have to gain a better appreciation for that while I’m here because the hosts love it. I ate it with a smile though! We also have a notebook that we have each night that Madame writes new vocabulary for us in. It's a great idea! She says that she's our "second professor" while here in Paris so I'm sure we'll learn a lot!

And now it’s late...but I’m settled in, full, and quite happy. Church tomorrow is at 9, so we have to be up at 7 to catch the train at 8. I think we’re meeting the guys (Paul, Caleb, and Mahonri) at the station so that we can all go in a group. They live in the house down the street from us. I’ll make sure and let you all know how church in French goes tomorrow! Bonne nuit!!!!

Here's some pictures of my room: