Je suis perdu!

Bonjour blogging world!

So today was another crazy day in Paris. I have a feeling that every day I’m going to crave my sleep by the time I get home. I’m always exhausted but happy! Anyways, I kind of had kind of a panic session this morning. When I woke up, I got super dizzy and started tremble all over. I couldn’t really think cognitively and felt like I was either going to barf or pass out (neither of which I really wanted to do). For whatever reason, I ran to the sink and started chugging water. That actually helped A LOT. Turns out that 8 hours of walking + six McNuggets + a small Fanta = dehydration and freakish panic attacks on Monday mornings. I don’t recommend trying it.

I knew I had to get some food in me so Amy and I went down to have our first breakfast at our host family’s maison (that means house if you didn’t know that already). Madame de Grandmaison is so sweet to us! She left out some bowls and spoons, along with some juice so that we could eat right away. She doesn’t usually wake up very early so she wanted to make sure we had what we needed when we woke up. I had Special K - Chocolat Noir (dark chocolate), jus d’orange (orange juice), du pain (some bread...not the smartest idea but it was delicious), and du lait (milk). Breakfast isn’t a big deal here so it kind of makes me really sad. Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day! But it was lovely nevertheless. The French also have TINY portions of everything. For example, the cups that we have for our meals are the size of shot glasses. I’m used to my Daddy’s massive water cups at my house...definitely different. Tip of the day: if you want to go on a diet, come to France! You’d think that with all of the amazingly delicious crepes, waffles, pastries, chocolate, ice cream, gelato, sandwiches, etc. you’d gain a million pounds. FALSE! I’ve been here for 4 days and I’ve lost 5 pounds already. Madame was kind enough to put a scale in our bathroom...and by kind I mean that I’m gonna be paranoid about it the whole time I’m here. But that’s okay!

After breakfast, Amy and I got ready for the day and then went to the supermarché to get some groceries. Our host families give us breakfast every day and dinner three times a week, so that means we’re on our own for lunch and some dinners. We were pretty much worthless...I think we got some bread, yogurt, cheese (you HAVE to eat cheese for everything in France), and I HAD to buy my favorite childhood treat - Kinder chocolate. Oh how sweet it is

We met the boys at the station at 1:00 to try and hit up some sales downtown and then came to realize that most stores are closed on Mondays. Weird, right?! We were kind of sad. We ended up walking down Rue du Rivoli and window shopping. I had a sandwich mazzo for lunch (like a mini baguette Panini with mozzerella, basil, and tomatoes). SO DELISH! That was at Les Halles (a giant mall near our church building).

After lunch, we had like three hours to kill before we had to be at FHE at the institute building. Caleb (again) wanted to see Notre Dame de Paris (the inside this time), along with Amy and Mahonri. Paul and I have been like...5 times in the last 4 days so we decided to get one of our homework assignments out of the way for the week for our Paris Walks class. Yay for overachieving! This week’s assignment is called, “Get Lost in Paris.” You literally have to wander to a random place in Paris and get lost for a while. It turned out to be super fun!

We decided to hop on a Metro line that we’d never used before and to get off at a random stop. It was pretty much really sketchy when we got off but we kept walking for a while down these pretty Parisian streets in the 18^th arrondissement. We turned a few times and saw this really pretty path.

While along this path, we found this REALLY cool staircase! It looks like wood (and smells like urine) but its actually cement!

Paul and I decided to take these stairs and found this at the top.

Hello Sacre Coeur! Such a pretty building. And the view is INCREDIBLE!

We walked inside but we weren’t allowed to take pictures, so we left to meet the others. I can honestly say that I know my way around Paris really well by now. I LOVE IT! I can take the Metro anywhere I need to go and I can get there fast. This city is just fabulous! These are some pics of the Metro today (I also got an Orangeina from the vending machine here only to have it explode all over me...sadly, no pictures of that).

We met the others at Hotel de Ville and just talked for an hour or so before FHE. There were some French people protesting outside L’Hotel de Ville too! The French love protesting...it’s all over the place and they’re usually kind of fun to watch.

FHE was at our church building, which is stunning! I got pictures today! Everyone was really friendly and welcoming and (once again) I understood everything that everyone was saying! I’ve actually typed some words in French while writing this and I think it means that I’m 100% fluent now. Okay, that was a total lie but it’s getting easier to communicate! Oh, and the lady in charge of FHE asked me to give the opening prayer tonight. She said I could do it in English but everyone (from the BYU group) kept saying, “No! Do it in French! It’s good practice!” Needless to say, for the entire opening hymn I was having this internal conflict whether to pray in English or French. And when it was time to pray, BAM! Out popped my first public French prayer. So cool!

We had to leave FHE early to catch the train home because Madame was making us dinner tonight. It took a lot longer than we thought! Madame likes us to eat at 8:30pm on the dot. It’s a 10-minute walk home from the station and we got in at 8:2pm! So we ran. So much, in fact, that my feet are bleeding AGAIN! It was a total waste too because she was on the phone and hadn’t started yet.

Dinner tonight was...HUGE for me. We had zucchini with cheese and mushrooms. If you know me at all, you know that I have a hard time with vegetables. ESPECIALLY mushrooms (thanks for passing that gene on to me, Daddy). BUT, ladies and gentlemen, I ate it. The whole stinking thing. We also had salad, rice, and bread. And for dessert? I dare you to guess. If you thought cheese, you were right! And delicious raspberry yogurt and dark chocolate pudding. But I’m so proud of myself for eating the vegetables! It was a big step for me.

After dinner, well...I started typing this. And then got distracted Skyping Rinna (which was awesome! So glad you're loving Spain!) And then talked to Amy for like an hour. And now it’s almost 1:00am and I’m exhausted (but happy!). Tomorrow is the first day of classes! I’ll let you know how they go! But for now, bonne nuit mes amis! A demain!