Settling in, in Paris. . .

Monday we moved in to the Cite Universitaire. It's this whole group of dorms for students from all over the world who are coming to study in Paris. Pretty neat. The Cite is pretty nice, we just happened to get the 70s, paint peeling off the walls, communal all sex bathrooms hall. But it's Paris, so how can I complain? We have a mini fridge and a kitchenette down the hall, but nothing to cook with. The mini fridge is definately a very nice plus. Our classes are in the Accent building, a 40 minute metro ride into the city, and that's on a good day, if you can catch all the trains. They are very full at 8:15 AM.

Monday night we had our orientation for Paris and a boat ride on the Seine. The boat ride, even though touristy, was great because I got to see many things at one--the Louvre museum, the Sorbonne, Norte Dame, and various other bridges and monuments that didn't stick with me. Ah well.

Tuesday we had class but a free afternoon. I did my reading and got some rest.

Wenesday was busy. We had class in the morning and then a language class in the afternoon. The language teacher was tough. I know almost no French and it was a struggle to keep up. I think she picked on me because my name is french. Fun.

Wenesday evening we had a site visit at Monmarte. We started at the church Sacre Coeur, which was very neat, although we were a little late, so I missed the inside. I guess it holds up the hill! The church sits on 80 columns or something. Then we saw many of the artists homes, and sites from the movie Amilie, which I haven't seen yet, but Elissa has it on DVD, so maybe I'll see it soon. We also wandered down to the Moulin Rouge, which was very touristy and crowded. But still neat--there was a big red windmill, surprise surprise. Yeah, so no one told me that moulin is french for windmill. That's fine.

I'm so tired from all the travelling over break (which was still great) and now I have to do all these readings for class and papers and projects again. But I enjoy the learning, I mean, Thursday we discussed Locke, who I've read several times. So not a big deal, but still lots to do. Friday we had more French in the morning and then a visit to the Louvre in the afternoon. The Louvre is huge. I've been in so many museums this semester, but nothing can even begin to compare to this. So many rooms and so little time. By the time I got down to the Mesopotamian room to see the Code of Hammurabi, it was closed. I did see lots of Rubens and Van Gogh, and caught the Mona Lisa. It was crowed and lots of people were taking pictures. But we have museum passes for Paris, so as students (supposedly majoring in Art History, haha) we can get in to any museum for free.

Well I'm all caught up, and my time is finished. I don't know what I'm going to do this weekend. . . but it's Paris!

Have a good spring break, for all of you just beginning.

 
Hello All! I finally made it to Paris, sweaty and dirty and tired. But I'm here.

Okay, Sevilla wasn't that exciting. We saw the outside of the Cathedral and the Alcazar, but couldn't get in to either. The next day we tried to go to the beach in Cadiz. Ultimate diaster. First, we got on a train, and then it went to the back area of the station for repairs. So we had to get off in the back area of the train station. Kind of scary, with only saintary workers hanging out on their smoke break. Luckily, a taxi came back to drop someone off, and took us back to the front of the station. Then, after asking two different workers if our Eurail passes would work, we weren't allowed on the next train to Cadiz, but were told to wait for the next regional train. That would have put us in to Cadiz pretty late, so we scrapped the whole beach plan and decided to go to Granada. Whoo!!

Granada was excellent. We got in, had a lady show us to a hostel and went out in search of food and e-mail. I think we've spent most of this break on trains, but I enjoy them. You can sleep, listen to music or read. Much better than driving. . . which some people on our trip actualy tried. Eh.

On Friday we spent most of the day at the Alhambra. Amazing. It was beautfiul--reminded me a lot of Saudi. Basically, it is made up of the palaces, the gardens and the fortress.

Okay, I guess we have to be signed up to use these computers, and we need to be at the Cite soon. More later.

 
hotmail hates me, so I thought I'd make a post. I'm in th train station in Madrid, en route to Paris. Sapin has been great. Now I'm out of time. Love you all!