Tours

The next train to Tours was in about two hours. We decided to get the tickets then just lunch somewhere for a while. Kay was the first to get her ticket, but I couldn't hear what the woman told her. Then Dee, and I heard then man say 'seize'. I thought 16€ roundtrip, that's not bad at all. Finally I go up. I had the same woman as Kay, so I used the cop out of 'le meme billet pour moi, s'il voud plait'. She replies with a smile and a little laugh, 'Oui bien sur. Quatre euro.' I fumble. 'Quatre euro?' 'Oui.' 'Uhh...d'accord.' I give her the money, she gives me the change and my ticket. I go over to Kay and Dee thinking, 'I fucked that up'. But no. The 'seize' I had heard was francs. We allpaid 4€ for a roundtrip to Tours. Let's think about this...Amazing! We were psyched. It turns out that during the Journée de Patrimoine you can go anywhere in the same region for only 2€. While practically jumping with joy we thought we'd hit up Quick. It's a fast food place, whose symbol is the same Q as Quizno's. Kay got a 'long chicken', me: chicken dips, and Dee: yoaurt and fries. Apparently even French fast food restaurants are better. I paid; and the woman put my soda on my tray. So I stood there, waiting for my food. After a few moments she must have realized I was not French, so she told le that I could go, and she would be the one to bring me my food when it was ready. Shit, they serve you in fast food restaurants? Sure enough after a few minutes she came over with my chicken dips and fries. The French have it made.

Finally it was time to board our train. And it had compartments like on the Hogwarts Express! That made me quite excited, even though we had to share with a guy who would try to look like he wasn't watching us while listening to something with headphones and occasionally laughing out loud. We taught Dee how to play Go Fish (or 'aller à la peche' as she likes to say). About an hour later we heard 'Tours' and got off. We looked around the station but didn't see a map, so we headed out to find Le Musée Des Beaux Arts. The town was dead. We followed signs for Centre Ville and ended up walking in a huge square. After stopping at a little patisserie, we decided to go back to the train station to see if we might've left on the wrong side. We asked a woman where the Musée was. 'A Tours?' 'Oui.' 'Vous n'etes pas à Tours.' Alrighty then. Dee and I went back to Kay. (We can't find the Musée or any of the streets we're on because we're not in Tours.' Where the hell are we?

As it turns out we had to take a navette (connecting train) from the main (1st) train to the real Tours. We managed to realize this approximately one minute before the next one left, and we ran up to the platform about five seconds before it started moving. So we got to wait another twenty minutes in non-Tours. This is why some of my photos have captions like 'fake Tours' and 'real Tours'.

Soon after getting on the navette three other people came into the car. We looked at eachother, then them, eachother, and said 'Americans!' Well, two of them were, and they were talking to a Brazilian guy. But the Americans were an older couple, grandparents actually, who were doing a bike trip around France. They were from Michigan, just like the guy Lichigan in our residence.

The navette was only twenty minutes or so and this time when we walked out of the gare, it looked like a city, and we could find the streets on Kay's map. Like Orléans, and let's admit it, most of France, Tours is a beautiful city. It was slightly better than Orléans in that you didn't smell piss or shit every ten minutes, and there was less dog shit in the streets. Le Musée de Beaux Arts is inside a lovely building next to a cathedrale. The paintings ranged from long ago, at least 17th century possibly earlier, to the the 20th century. I loved it. I also took over 60 photos, including some nice shots of the cathedrale from inside the musée. Because of the Jounrée de Patrimoine it was only 2€ a person, and it wasn't packed inside either.

After exhausting ourselves we took a little repose in a park and finished off the loaf of chocolate chip bread-type thing we had bought in non-Tours. But not for too long a rest, ever the youthful and adventurous three we said 'on y va!' A quick stop in the cathedrale then on towards the downtown section. We got to walk along Rue Colbert, so of course I took pics of the street sign as well as the 'Grill Colbert' and two other Colbert places. Those of you who know The Colbert Report might be able to guess my intentions.

We walked ourselves into quite a hungry state, but didn't find the stained glass museum we were half looking for. Instead we decided to have a nice dinner in a very busy place (in French a place is like a square, not like...place in English). Unfortunately we experienced one of the most disheartening things for a language student in a foreign country: we spoke to the waiter in French, and he responded in English. We decided we would just continue with French though. Dinner was good and I took my first sip of beer, Stella I believe it was. Although I didn't really like it in the way I like rum and coke I'd drink it over wine. After dinner the reasoning of our tongues overcame the reasoning of our wallets (but it did only cost 4euro to get there!) and we got dessert. Pour moi: a nice big glass of chocolate mousse with real whipped cream on top. Mmm! It's also nice not being rushed out of a restaurant.

Another funny quote came from this day. We heard a baby crying in a very strange way, and a few moments later Kay came out with, "What do they do to their kids here to make it sound like Jurassic Park?" I happened to be chewing at that moment and burst out laughing which prompted the second quote: "You're lucky I have teeth 'cause that peice of chicken almost flew right at you."

After dinner we leisurely amde our way back to the gare. Once there we found out we had about one and a half hours to kill, so we browsed a little in the bookstore, and I actually found a book I needed for one of my classes. Then we spotted them: a group of guys (about 15) break dancing. We found an empty bench right behind them and enjoyed the free entertainment until our navette train arrived. I know some people might not like break dancing, but you have to admit, it takes some strength, if not skill as well. It made for a great end to our visit of Tours.

Unfortunately, after the navette we had to wait quite a bit because the train was delayed for over half an hour. Once back in Orleans we saved a tram trip and walked home, despite it being around 11pm. The city is gorgeous at night as well. I got a great shot of the Pont George V, the bridge the tram goes over when we go to school. Later I showed it to my French friend who said that after four years of being in Orleans he hadn't realized how beautiful that bridge was. I'll take that as a compliment to my photography skills, thank you.

We made it to our rooms around 11:30pm, just in time to end the great weekend by finishing some homework and not going to bed as early as I wanted to. But who cares? I'm in France!

Journée de Patrimoine

12 - 16 septembre

This has been a strange, but overall awesome weekend. But let's start with Wednesday night. The three of us went out to meet Dee's host-sister. We went to a bar with her friend who wanted to practice his English. After a round of drinks it got cold, so we went to another bar to be inside. Two more guys joined us for another round of drinks. After a few minutes one left to meet one of his friends. So a little while later the six of us went to a rhumerie to meet up with him and three or four other people. Finally around 1am we convinced everyone that we had to leave (just the three of us) because we had class at 9am.

The next night, Thursday, Dee and I met up with two of the guys from the night before, and we were going to go to a club for a soirée d'integration for our university. Before we got them we played Kings and managed to kill a bottle of champagne between the two of us. We brought them over for another game of kings...and then another...until we decided that it was too late to go to the club.

Friday night the three of us went out with those two guys and Dee's host-sister. They love bar-hopping here. After 2 (our group had grown to about 10) everyone wanted to go to the discothèque. But alas, my loser-self came back and I went home to sleep instead.

Ok. The weekend finally. This weekend was the journée de patrimoine, not just in France, but I guess all over Europe. This means that museums and parks and the mikes are either free or very cheap. you'd think we'd go to Paris, but since every thing's free we knew there would be horrible lines everywhere. So we decided to stay closer.

Saturday we started out around noon, and walked up towards the centre commercial. First we went to the Maison de Jean d'Arc. Not really her house, but where she stayed while she was in Orléans. In one room they had models of key events and an audio track to tell the story, plus corny fanfare music. It was nice.

Our next adventure was to find the Musée des Sciences Naturals. We went were we thought if should be, and didn't see it or any signs. Then, in a moment of pure intellectualism, I saw a building with letters on top that read 'Museum'. Halfway there Kay made the realization the 'Museum' is English...in French it's 'musée'. But we found it.

So we walk in, which is kind of awkward because there's a desk with people there where you would normally go to pay, but it was free. At the desk I saw 'spiky hair', a guy that lives on my floor.

The museum has three floors. Well as you walk into the room on the bottom level, you are faced with an ass, standing in a box, staring at you. It's not alive, but it definitely was at some point. Next to it is a once-alive sheep, peeing. I believe the first thought for all three of us was, 'what the fuck is this'. Next to each animal is a post, and at the top is a ? on a piece of rubber. You lift it up and it gives a French idiom involving the animal and whatever the animal is doing. Then it explains it. For example, there's a baby elephant walking on porcelein plates and dishes. The idiom is 'comme un éléphant dans un magasin de porcelein.' I believe we have something similar in English to mean clumsy. I have pictures of my favorite ones.

The first floor had insects, amphibians, snakes and fish. There were a lot of alive things on this floor, and some once-alives. There was a huge lobster that was almost as tall as me. Above that on the wall was a really big crab-like thing that scared the crap out of me, and then I in turn scared Kay and Dee. They also had the grossest looking frogs I have ever seen. They're white and look bloated and we thought they were dead at first but then one moved a little. They just floated like they were suspended in gel. The fish were fun. I kinda felt like a little kid, and I took a lot of pics.

The second floor was mammals. Taxidermied mammals to be exact. We didn't get to spend too much time there because they were closing.

The next day we had planned to take a bike ride around the paths on the island in the middle of the Loire. So we got up early, packed a picnic bag, and headed towards the nearest bike station. I think there are about 20 in Orléans, and each station has 10-15 bikes that you can rent for a little while, a week, or a month, or possibly longer. When we got there we found out that you have to subscribe to it and pay a 150€ deposit. It was Sunday though, so even if we had wanted to subscribe we couldn't. Back to the residence. We all changed out of our scrub clothes, ate something quick and decided to go to the train station. How about Tours? Sound good? Pourquoi pas. Off to the train station, and this is how it went:

Les Cours

Guess who decided to skip class the second day? Moi! But not without reason. But let's start on the first day shall we? Ok. My first class here was la grammaire. First subject: punctuation. First lesson: punctuation in poems. I like poetry, some of it, I do. I hate it in class. I was also late, but it didn't matter because le professeur had pushed back class by half an hour. She also informed us that our classes with her the first two weeks would be changed. Not really a big deal je suppose. So grammaire wasn't that bad. Then I had a lunch break, where I was reminded why I tell people I don't seafood. Then writing. There is actually a facebook group called "I survived class with Mme Puech". That's my first writing teacher. It wasn't too bad I guess. Then français écrit and cinema, with the same prof. She shows clips of movies without sound, and then we write about it. She said DSF students don't necessarily have to take that class, so I'm thinking I won't. After that was supposed to be the optional cinema class, but it was let out early because they couldn't get the projector to work. Tuesday I had more writing, with a different prof. I'm not sure I'll like it or not because I had to leave halfway through for un rendez-vous at the bank. This took much longer than they expected, and I didn't get back to the fac until 11h20. My next class was 10h30 - 12h... Well, less than hour left? I decided not to go and instead sat outside writing out this post. It's nice when the sun comes out, and not too bad when it doesn't. I have no idea if people just sit outside here like they do at my university, but I have gotten a few strange looks.

Anyways, I now have a French bank account. I only had to sign about 20 things. I don't actually have the bank card yet, I get to wait some more for that. I also have to figure out how to transfer the money from my account at home to this one. Unfortunately one euro is about $1.45, so although I think I have a lot of money right now, it won't be that much after the transfer.

The rest of mes cours... I think I will like all of my teachers. One is a bit crazy and likes to go off on etymological tangents for ten minutes, but I think I can stand it. My history and geography teacher I think will be hilarious, if I can stay awake in his class. Since I'm in the highest level we're pretty much choosing what we want to learn about in his class. Side note: it is so funny to hear French people try to pronounce Connecticut. I think it's because we don't pronounce the c in the middle, and they do. Overall my classes are pretty much like my classes in the states, except it's all in French and about French. Homework doesn't seem to be too bad either, and so far I only have to buy two books, one for 4,50€ and the other for 15€. I just have to not go out at night during the week. Fridays are more fun anyways.

Completely unrelated: I finally opened up my bag of ogre-sized peanut butter m&ms that I brought, and they are just as good in France. I wish I had brought more instead of leaving the rest at home.

This week I got to take the tram by myself a few times. It makes me feel more French. I also found at that 7h45 is rush hour on the tram. There were so many people that for about five stops I couldn't even hold onto a bar. I was so afraid of falling into the guy behind me. Luckily my public transportation balancing skills are quite good from having to stand on the shuttle at my university (people who have done this know how challenging it can be, especially with the crazy drivers). I managed to lose my tram ticket Friday morning, it still had six trips left on it. Merde. So Friday afternoon I used my back-up. It's a 10-trip ticket that says I have three trips left, but no longer works. I just dodged the controllers too. At the station they were on the other side checking people as they got off, then they got on a tram going the other direction. Then the tram got really full so I wasn't worried they'd get on. Controllers are who work for the tram and bus system. They randomly get on trams to check people's tickets, or they wait at a station and check you before you can get off. When you first get on the tram you have to put your ticket through a little machine that stamps it with the date and time.

When I have to go to school alone I put on my ipod, speed walk to the station (good exercise), and then try not to stare at people on the tram. It's not bad though. I'm glad my classes don't run really late though. On Mondays I have cinema until 20h (8pm), but Kay and Dee are taking it too, so we're not going back online in the dark.

Et ça c'est tout pour maintenant.

Sauf cars

This is an actual road sign. Their stop signs also say 'stop', and they are in love with round-abouts. I've become quite fond of the phrases "cedez le passage" and "vouz n'avez pas la prioritie". The French are funny about english. They use "sauf cars", but had to change email to 'Mèl' so it was more French. They also say cool, or c'est super cool! On my shampoo bottle, you can read 'nouveau look!'.

Orléans

I would like to explain some things about France and alcohol. People drink a lot of wine, I'm sure most people knew that. The legal age to buy alcohol is 18, and I haven't been carded. You can also drink in public. For example: Dee was drinking with her host-sister and some friends on the lawn behind in the Eiffel Tower. You just can't be 'drunk' in public.

But back to me. Wednesday was a little slow at first. In the afternoon Dee and I went up to the centre commercial. Somehow it seems three shirts from H&M jumped into a bag which snaked its way onto my arm. Oops! At least two of them I do need because they're long-sleeve. The third is just a really nice purple tank top. Later on the three of us went on a little tour of Orléans, and of course there are photos. For facebook people, look there, and sorry about the great number of pics of the Cathèdrale St. Croix, I just love cathedrals. That evening we met up at Chez Michigan, which is actually just Michigan's room. He has internet and a TV though; so we like to call it that. I had two glasses of of champagne, the entire bottle was only 2,50€. Oh that's the other thing about alcohol in France...it's cheap. Some things like whiskey, gin, vodka and rum are about the same. but you can get a bottle of wine or champagne for 2€. of course the really good stuff is pricier.

Now Thursday ( 6 septembre for you date freaks) was a funny day. We had gone to campus to talk to someone at the SRI, and it turned out that we had a meeting! This was actually quite an important meeting too, where we filled out forms and got a lot of info. It was from 9h to about 17h (5pm), with a lunch break. I have to admit, lunch that day was a little scary, and a lot like high school. We needed up sitting across from this French kid who was so cute. For awhile he wouldn't look up, though we could tell he was listening and wanted to talk. Eventually he did.

Thursday is also when I found out that I don't need to buy French health insurance (192€), and that I couldn't finish registering because my birth certificate doesn't have my parents names on it. Oh fun! And my dad was on vacation with no way to contact him...stress city.

Thursday night we tried to meet some people in our building, but it didn't really work. We lit some candles and brought drinks and music down in to the courtyard. It was fun. We almost went to the club, but decided against it. We found out the next day that Thursday nights at this club there are like go go dancers and stripteases, so I'm kinda glad we didn't.

Friday we had to go back to campus for some more information and to get our class placements and schedules. There are four levels here French: prepq-DEF, DEF, DAF, and DSF. These stand for diplome elementaire/approfondi/supérior français. So DSF is the highest, and has only 10 students. I got into DSF...yay me! I'm not sure how exactly because I thought my French was about the same level as Dee's and Kay's, and they are both in DAF. But I'm somewhat proud of myself. My schedule isn't bad either. I have an hour less of grammaire, and an hour less of pratique oral, but I have to take two 2hour optional classes, they have to take only one.

Blah blah, that was the boring part of the day. Around 8h we decided to hit up the Havana Café because it has wifi grauit. But...it didn't work. We also brought a guy from our residence with us. While Dee and I were waiting for Kay, he asked us if we knew a bar with a tv so he could watch the rugby match. As it happened, the Havana Café has TVs. They don't have food though. So we left him and went across the street for food. That place also had a tv so we saw the first 25 minutes of the match, which was actually the Rugby World Cup between France and Argentina (France lost). For dinner I had a cordon bleu grinder. Have I mentioned that I love France?

After dinner we returned chez nous. That night we were going to the discothèque, KA. They dressed me up and id m hair because, let's face it, I'm a dork. Then we drank and attempted to play a drinking game. The game: one person finds a word in the French dictionary, says it, spells it, gives its part of speech and uses it in a sentence. The other two have to guess the definition, and if they don't guess correctly; they drink. This was not as easy as we thought. We left a little after midnight because KA is open 11-5, and people don't really show up until 12h30 - 1h30. It turned out to be kinda crazy and a lot of fun.

Saturday we didn't leave the residence. I personally spent most of the day being slow and cautious to avoid the worst part of a hangover: puking. I was successful, go me. My hives came back with a vengeance, I had fourteen different ones by the time I went to bed...or rather passed out after taking two benadryls. Saturday night we did watch a movie: The Motorcycle Diaries. One of our neighbors watched it with us. For the comprehension of all, we set this movie (originally in Spanish) to French and put on English subtitles. Despite this is was a good movie.

Sunday I was a little out of it, after sleeping 10 hours thanks to the benadryl. I almost spent the day inside again, but in the afternoon we realized we needed food so we went out. This didn't work, pas de tout. It was Sunday. On Sunday in France, stores close, all stores. I believe only cafés and restaurants can open, if they choose. The trams also only run every 20 minutes instead of every seven. However, le Place de Martroi, and a lot of rue de la republique were closed off this day for Fete de Rentrée...street festival! Kinda. There were tents wit ha ton of different organisations (Kay was in heaven when she spotted the flag of GAGL). They also had demonstrations of things like karate and gymnastics that kids can do here. And a crepe stand. Deeeelicious. The crepe was, no joke, about 18"-21" across, the put nutella on it, and fold it until it's about the size of a pizza slice. Crepe heaven.

Afterwards we got lazy (and we had no food) so we ordered Dominos...for delivery. They had me order because I'm in DSF. I think I did quite well actually, but they still screwed up our orders. It was good, but the cheese is different. How can I describe it...oh! It's real cheese. We also watched Erin Brockevich (sp?), dubbed in French on tv at Chez Michigans. by the way, there were three or four commercial breaks; about four minutes long each, during the entire thing. I was also online; which means facebook (and pics), and emails...I've missed the internet so much.

First real day (and night) in Orléans

For anyone who cares, I did not need a pencil. I only needed my passport and a pen. I don't like carrying my passport around, but it's the only acceptable ID I have here.

At 7h30 du matin, I met Kay and Dee in the courtyard. It was fairly cold, and if I have classes early in the morning than I'm buying a winter coat within a week. We were supposed to be there at 8h50. We got to campus around 8h10. So we stopped in a little café to pass the time. The guy that worked there was hilarious, I won't even try to explain because it's something you'd just have to experience for yourself.

Around 8h40 we went in search of the amphi-Péguy, in the fac de lettres, where our French test was. A little explanation. At American universities, there is the university which includes everything and everyone. Then there are colleges. For example I'm in the college of human sciences and services because I'm an education major. However your college does not necessarily have it's own building, or if you're in two colleges (I'm also in arts and sciences for French), then you may have classes all over campus. Here, there is the university which is everything. Un collège is actually like a middle school. In the university there are facultés, or les facs. here I'm in the fac de lettres; langes et sciences, but everyone just says le fac de lettres. Tina is in Polytech. So all of my classes this semester will be in the fac de lettres, all of Tina's will be in the Polytech. Personally I think it's smarter this way. End of explanation.

First we took a written exam, three questions for a total of 75 points. I think I lay have gotten 6 wrong, But I wouldn't be surprised if I got them all right. It was like a test from French 3 or 4 in high school. Then we had to wait a while for the oral exam. by now a kid from Michigan joined us, so we were quatre. We walked into the commercial part of campus (kind of like the Emporium but not) and found a place 'Restaurant Bunny', as in Bugs Bunny. We sat under a big pictures of the cartoons (Bugs, Daffy, Elmer Fudd, etc);

The nice things about cafés and restaurants in France is they're not rushing you the door. you have to ask for the check, so you can sit and chill for awhile if you want. Then we went back to the fac and waited for the oral exams to start. We met two kids from Germany lugging their bags around because they had just arrived. I was first, it was less than ten minutes, very conversational, and therefore easy as shit. Then Kay, then Deni, then Michigan. While waiting for each other we met two girls from Turkey who are doing volunteer work for a while. It's kinda cool that we can meet people from practically every where here, and it's almost certain that we can communicate. most other countries learn two other languages, and often one is English. So if they're not comfortable with French, we have English.

Well after this test the four of us were done, and we also had nothing academic the next day. After a little repose we went to the centre commercial. I finally changed my cash over, at the shitty rate of 1.445. I mailed out my first stuff: a letter and a postcard. Don't worry people, if I said I would send a postcard, I will, it's only my first week in Orléans. If you want one, I need addresses and you can leave them on here or on facebook or email me. They do cost 0,85€ so I'm not gonna go crazy. Also, I'm not in Paris, I don't know if I can get Eiffel Tower ones here.

Enough about you, let's go back to me. After la poste, it was back to Carrefour for more food and such. We bought way too much. You cannot take the carriages out of the centre commercial. So we had to buy extra bags, cram our stuff into them, then walk to the tram. We most likely looked absolutely ridiculous on the tram with all of our stuff. Then we had the walk from the tram to our building. Holy shit. I never knew that walk was so long. Again, I'm fairly certain we looked ridiculous: hefting these bags, and huffing and puffing and giving ourselves pep-talks. "Ok, just lake it to the next cross-walk, then rest;" We broke open a bottle of juice and a baguette on the way. Big baguette by the way, that costs like $2 at S&S, 0,39€! Definitely a new staple. Needless to say my neck and shoulders killed the next day.

After ranging our affaires (like the franglais?) I had dinner with Kate. Ravioli cooked with garlic and red pepper...so delicious. i cracked open my bottle of Old Nick. It was only 4,85€ fora good-sized bottle. Pineapple and papaya white rum. Nasty. Not incredibly horrible with orange juice chased by baguette.

Around 10 we went down to Dee's room, where Michigan had to stay for the night because he lost his keys on the tram. Too bad because he gets free wireless from someone else in his room. He and Dee had two bottles of wine, Kay had one, and I had Old Nick. Fun night. All I'll say is that I think we know each other a lot better, and I didn't get back to my room until 3h30am. Oh and a great quote from Kay, "I like to shit in Nordstrom's 'cause they have nice bathrooms." Haha, I love it. I think we may have scared Michigan a little...

I got to bed around 3h30, woke up around 7h. My first thought, "oh god I'm glad I stopped drinking when I did." Water and a croissant got me through the morning, every time I woke up again. I didn't actually get up until 11h. It was a slow morning.

A funny note about French. Bachelor party translates from French to English, literally, as 'interment of single life'.

Savez-vous pourquoi j'aime cette langue?

J'ai démanagé encore

3 septembre 2007

So today I finally moved into my apartment. First I had a meeting at the SRI ( services de relations internationales). The woman there was very nice and informed me that I had to be on campus at 8h50 the next day for my French test. Then I paid 5€ for my dishes and such. They only gave me a fork, knife, spoon, serving spoon, plate, bowl, spatula, pot, frying pan, and 2 glasses. Everyone got different things (Kay and Dee both got strainers, and Dee also got a cutting board). They also gave me a packet of info, with maps and brochures for stuff like the tram and restaurants. Then they sent us (Tina and I) off to the residence. We had to be there by a certain time, but when we arrived there were 3 other people waiting already. After maybe 20 minutes the girl who was before me at the first rendez-vous went to do the état de lieu. Finally I went in the Secretariat's office. They said I was missing some stuff; and I had to fill out a paper and sign some stuff. They didn't like it that I already had my flight back home and that it's for the 26th, but too bad for them 'cause it's cheaper to buy round trip. So then we did the Etat de Lieu. This means that we went to my apartment with a maintenance guy, and he had a paper to fill out. He took note of everything (and I mean everything) that was wrong, from missing button to flush the toilet to the tiny dings in the floor. They do another one the day before we leave to see if it's in the same condition and to determine whether or not I get my deposit back. This is why they didn't like it that I'm leaving the 26th...the day before is Christmas. Whatever, they can do it on the 23rd or the morning I leave.

I also found out that I have to get insurance for the apartment...no one told me this...and I have to sign up for financial help for the rent even though I've already paid for all of it, and the chance of getting it is slim to none. I also had to rent sheets and blankets because they come together. I brought my own sheets but oh well, I'll send them home when my visitors come I guess. I didn't have to pay for them because I overpaid for the room. Now I have to find out how much I overpaid, and when they're gonna give it back. I wouldn't mind some extra euros in my account.

After lugging my stuff down the street and up the stairs, Tina and I went to the centre commercial. I finally got some euros, bought tram tickets and food for about three days. Although the Super U in Gevrey_Chambertin was great, the Carrefour in Orléans is not. If you think S&S on a Sunday with three call-outs is bad, try this place, every day. The front end was so packed it would probably take five minutes to squeeze through with a cart from one end to the other.

After this little outing I was finally able to settle in. There's no dresser, so three shelves of my bookcase now hold clothes, another holds daily stuff like jewelry and vitamins, the bottom is sheets and my bag. After I rangé mes affaires I went in search of the other two girls from my home university. One wasn't in her room, and as I was going upstairs to find the other, she came in with her host family and groceries. We tried speaking French for a few minutes, but then she finally said, 'fuck it, I've had enough'. She put her stuff away, then we came up to my room for dinner and exchanged stories about our first few days.

I think I will get in shape here. My room is on the 3ème étage (floor). Unlike in America, the floors here start on the 2nd. The ground floor is the rez-de-chaussée, then the first floor. So in America you would say that I live on the fourth floor. So at least once a day I have to go up and down four flights of stairs (no elevators). Since my residence is in the centre-ville, and campus is across the Loire river, I have to take the tram. However, there are no stops at my residence. It's three or four blocks away, about 10 minutes walking. I definitely need to invest in an umbrella and a winter coat.

I think I will also learn how to cook better. My kitchen consists of a big shelf, two shelves in a little cupboard under the sink, a small sink with space on the side to dry dishes, and two small burners. And a mini-fridge. At least the burners are electric. No stove, no microwave...only cold and stove top. I also have to pay for my electricity, so I light get some candles for the evening to save on light use.

There is also a table with two chairs, and a little bedside table type thing with a drawer and two shelves. The drawer now holds socks and underwear, and the shelf is my mass of papers and school supplies. It's about 400€ a month, and the furniture is very dorm-ish. Would I pay that much for a place this size in my town? No way. But if I could find a place this size I would pay $250-$300 depending on whether or not hot water and electricity were included. I have one good-sized window, with a ledge big enough to sit on and write on. It only looks out on the courtyard, which means doors and some other peoples windows, but hey, it's a window. It's also very easy to watch everyone else without them noticing me.

Tomorrow beings my scholarly adventure. I hope I don't need a pencil because all I have is a pen. We'll see I guess.

à beintot!