Un bon week-end

Saturday began our first day in Paris with not commitments or obligations. Other than stolling through the streets of Montmartre once again, some friends and I had an authentic crêpe lunch at a French café for lunch. French people take eating seriously, and it is very common for them to sit for hours at a café just to relax and enjoy their meals. My favorite part is that when you sit outside on the sidewalk to eat at a cafe, you face outwards so that you can enjoy

the sites. We passed the world-famous Moulin Rouge after running into several of the wrong large red windmills in the area (who knew there was more than one large red windmill in Paris?). We toured the Cemetery of Montmartre, coming across famous gravestones like that of French painter Edgar De Gas (who also lived in New Orleans for several years). One of my friends from home in Louisiana arrived in Paris today, and she will be staying at an amazing apartment for the month next to the Louvre. It was a fun test of my travel and French skills when I got to help her buy a French cell phone and a métro pass.



After eating dinner at yet another café, we wandered the streets of Paris at places like The Great Canadian Pub and the Irish Rebel Pub. One of the worst parts of Paris is that the métro closes between 1-2am, which is not very late for us college students. Last night, we decided to stay out until 5:30am when the métro reopened to save money on cabs, and many of the French youth did the same. I'm off to lunch and visiting the Grand Palais museum. The first sunday of every month in France, all museums are opened to the public for free!

MONTMARTRE AND LOVING IT

So after running into a little snag with my first host family, I have been moved to a BEAUTIFUL apartment in the district known as Montmartre. The famous cathedral Sacré Coeur is there, and I have posted pictures of a nearby street and of my new room (with its own door to the patio and backyard. My host mother is an Air France flight attendant, and her 14-year old son will be helping me learn French as I help him with his English. Today was a busy day with my professor and other 18 Georgetown students as we toured parts of the city (Champs-Élysées, Place de la Concorde, and the Latin Quarter). We also stopped by the school where I will be taking classes in the Latin Quarter, which is right near the likes of La Fontaine St. Michel and Notre-Dame Cathedral. We also invested 60 euros in unlimited métro (subway) passes for a month, which we will use to get to and from school everyday in addition to other traveling. Most students, including myself, purchased a French mobile cell phone in order to communicate in the city and among ourselves. I will update later on my new host family as I prepare for the first day of classes tomorrow! À bientôt.