2/12/2011
Hello! :) I hope you all are well and keeping yourselves occupied with interesting things.
As of yesterday, I've been here for two weeks! It's a weird feeling. It doesn't feel like I've been here for very long, yet I'm already pretty used to it. There is a lot to explore here and I really haven't even scratched the surface. For the first week or so, I was sometimes feeling too tired/sick to go out much, so I missed some outings planned by my friends, but now that I'm feeling a lot better (although that stupid cough won't go away), I'm making it a point to go out and explore more. Yesterday I even took out my city map and started looking for things!
Yesterday was also the first day of my grammar class at the Sorbonne. Right now we only have that--I still have the director's course with my group, but we've all been split up into different levels thanks to the (very difficult) placement test we took last week. I didn't do as well as I hoped I would, but I'm comfortable with my placement now (intermediate). That's apparently more like a higher-level back in the US, according to Céline. She keeps saying it, so I guess I'll just have to believe it... Ha ha. Anyway, I really enjoyed the class yesterday. I left my building early so that I would have enough time to find it (since no one else in my group had the same class... when I said we were all split up, I really did mean it), and explore if time allowed. I used GoogleMaps to make sure I knew where I was going, as well as the university map we were given (more on that later), and by that time I had a pretty good idea of what to do. I decided to find it on foot, so I got off the Metro at a familiar stop and made my way from there. It was surprisingly easy and it didn't take a lot of time at all! I arrived about 30 minutes early and used that time to walk around a bit. There was so much to see!
The area that my grammar class is in is lovely. First of all, the building itself looks nice. Second, there are little shops everywhere... and Notre Dame, of course. I can see it down the road! :) I walked up and down the road a little, and eventually came across a sign for a road whose name was IMMEDIATELY familiar. I got very excited and said, "Hey, I have enough time to go and find this..."
... AND I DID! That road was the one this famous bookstore I've been wanting to see for months is... Shakespeare & Company! My friend and I tried finding it a while back, but I couldn't remember the address, and no one we asked help from seemed to know it at all. The thing is, it's an American bookstore, so I don't think that many French people are particularly interested in it.
I was very proud of myself for finding it (all by myself) because, as most of you know, I cannot direct myself anywhere. I just can't do it. Now, however, I have a little more confidence and I'm going to explore more. There are lots of other places I want to see.
Anyway... Enough about my nerdy bookstore adventure. I'll spare you the details. Just know that I was really happy to find it and, since it's so close, I plan on visiting on a regular basis.
The weather here is amazing. Yesterday it was even in the 60s! I'm not kidding! It was such a nice day that I met up with friends after class (well, after I explored some more) and we just walked around for a few hours. We visited the Seine River and it was really nice. We got there just in time for all of the lights to turn on on the bridge and it was very pretty.
This week I also went to the Louvre (the Egyptian art exhibit... that museum is far too big to explore the whole thing in one visit). That was awesome. I want to visit Pompidou (another museum, but a bit of a strange one from what I understand).
I think I've written quite a lot for one email, but that's what's up! :)
Take care and, really, thanks again for keeping in touch with me. I love getting emails from back home! Or, you know... real letters... Those are nice, too... ;)
Lots of love,
- Maeghan
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