First days in Paris

After getting acclimated to the city over the past couple of days, I feel a bit more comfortable in the beautiful city of Paris. The metro is fantastic. You can go pretty much anywhere in the city with ease, and the trains run all the time. But they don't start at 5:00 a.m. — Derek and I learned that the hard way. On Saturday, after our Abroadco orientation, we went on a river boat tour of the Seine River, which separates Paris into Rive Gauche — the south — and Rive Droite — the north. Gauche and Droite actually mean left and right, but whatever, nothing here really seems to make sense.

On the tour we saw some famous sites. The Louvre museum, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, City Hall, etc. Fun fact about the Louvre: with its 36,000 pieces of art, if you were to spend three seconds looking at each one, it would take you nearly three months to see everything. Voila!

We've also been to a few bars. No crazy clubs yet, but the place we went to last night, the Hideout, was pretty bumping, and I actually met a DJ who said he would call me when he's spinning, so that should be cool.

When everyone left the bar at about 4:00 a.m. (yes, there is no "bar time" in Paris), my new friend Derek and I decided to stick around until 5:00, when the metro allegedly opens. Not true. We walked around for a bit and had to wait until almost 6:00 before it finally arrived, and I didn't get to bed until 6:30. Not the most fun I've had, but we were able to walk along the Seine at 4:30 a.m. and get a different perspective of the city.

Probably the biggest thing I've noticed so far is that the Parisians are incredibly well-mannered and overall pleasant people. I've yet to run into the stereotypical anti-American French person, and even with my horrible French speaking abilities, I've actually managed quite well to purchase food, pastries and with help from Derek, and new metro card. It's amazing how much using the pronouns madame, madamoiselle and monsieur can make you so much more polite — it's simply a sign of respect. If you show it to them, they'll return the favor.

Needless to say, it's been an amazing time so far. I love my apartment and its location, the people on the program are all really fun and nice, and I'm just looking forward to the next couple weeks before class starts. Jon also gets here in 10 days, so it will be nice to have a roommate.

(By the way, these pictures belong to Derek. I forgot my camera the first couple days, and that won't happen again!)