Le deuxième semaine à Paris

On Sunday afternoon, some friends from Georgetown and I went through the streets of Paris. Even though the museums were very crowded, we did stop by L'Hôtel des Invalides, where Napoleon is bured. We stopped for a dessert at a café, and it was a prime example of how French waiters act. First, they do not work on tips (as they are included in the bill in France), and, therefore, many of the servers are extra rude and extra French. It is an adjustment from the American style of restaurant expectations to say the least. We also went shopping later in the day in La Marais, one of the few districts with shopping and stores open on Sundays in Paris. It has been hard to keep track of money because it goes very fast in Paris, especially when you figure in the conversion to Euros. Luckily, the tax is almost always included in the price of items/food you buy and tipping is almost never necessary in Paris (included as well).

Today was the first day of my politics class, and our teacher for the first two weeks is focusing on French politics and institutions. Today and tomorrow are only morning days of class, so it will be nice to have the afternoons to relax. In other big news, my friend Melissa and I have booked train tickets (and a hostel) to Amsterdam this coming weekend! It will be nice to explore Europe a little and leave the world of French behind. Some of us are also looking at booking trips to Nice, France (Côte d'Azur) and Lisbon, Portugal for the following weekends. For now, i'm off to eat dinner with my host family before heading out for coffee avec mes amis later in the evening.