Monday Sept 26

Monday I had class at the Institute Catholique at 9h00, and Michelle got to sleep in. (Lucky..) Going to class was going to be the first time I would travel alone in Paris. I was so nervous! I woke up early, got ready, and ran out the door with no time for breakfast. I got my ipod and headphones out to listen to for my half hour of travel time. I know a lot of people are against listening to your ipod around town because you loose the opportunity to talk with people around you... But I'm going to listen to my ipod! 1: I am all alone 2: I am traveling on a metro in a bit of a sketchy part of town. 3: I am obviously American, which equals tourist, which equals cash. 4: I look like I'm a child. 5: I didn't completely remember how to get to the institute. So to all of those girls here in my group who hate the non-social people on the metro, I have become one of them.

I got to class in good time and I was safe. I actually really enjoyed being alone! I listened to my new music Cassidy got on my ipod for me (Thank babe) and it was nice to be by myself to meditate. I was a bit confused as to what building door was the right one, so I opened 1 or 2 extra. I didn't anyone to know I was kinda lost, so I tried to act like I knew what I was doing.

Class was good. We went over something I kinda already knew, it was nice to get a refresher though. We learn about the difference between "Est-ce que" and "Que-ce que"... and that is all we learned about. 3 hours of those two things. I am a bit worried that I am actually not going to learn very much french over here. We only have about 8 more classes, and if we are going at the rate we are right now... I definitely don't think I will be challenged very much. It is nice that it is somewhat easy, but I would like to learn more than I am. If anyone has suggestions, please let me know!

After class, Sam and I got a treat at a near by boulangerie. I got a Almond Croissant... I was craving them again. Then we traveled to Le Maras where the institute is. We had one more class for the day, which was religion. Is it bad that my religion class is my least favorite class?? It is HORRIBLY boring! He is a slow talker, and the class so far has only been names and dates. It is a 2 hour class that seems to last all day long. It is about the LDS church in France, which is a super interesting topic! I am just having a hard time paying attention.

Once class was finally over we met up with Michelle and a few other girls to go see if this crêpe place was opened. It is a princess crêperie! Everything is pink and super girly. We went there one other time but it was closed, so we went to go to it again... but it was closed! A few people got falafals instead, but I still wanted a crêpe. I went with Sam and Whitney to another place Sam and I had seen earlier called Cat-Man. We ordered a buckwheat crêpe with ham, potatoes, and creme fraiche! It was so good! I highly recommend making that yourself sometime. It was really simple! It was just the usual buckwheat crêpe recipe... Ham, that looked like lunch meat, cooked potatoes, and creme fraiche!

( Creme fraiche can be a little expensive, but it is SO easy to make!! For anyone who wants to know how to make Creme fraiche, my mom has it on her blog: http://simplysogood.blogspot.com/2011/02/creme-fraiche.html )

Sam and I were supposed to meet up with Ally at the Pompidou, but we couldn't find her anywhere! We decided instead of going home to study, we would just go to the library there in the Pompidou. Sam had her computer with her, but I didn't so I figured I'd use one of the computers there! ... Bad idea. It was all in French, and then when I finally found how to switch it to English, I realized that the computer I was on didn't have internet. We tried to find one that did have internet, but they were all taken. Sam and I found a table in the corner and shared her computer screen. We had a lot of reading to do for our History class, one assignment was to read about 98 pages from Victor Hugo's book Notre Dame de Paris. We read for about two hours and didn't get very far.

We left the Pompidou and walked across the street back to the institute for FHE. When we walked into FHE I saw a Tahiti boy who I had met at church back when I was 19. I said "Bonsoir!" to some missionaries and then I said, "ia ora na" to the Tahitian boy. (I think that is how you spell it??) He looked at me and said, "How did you know I am Tahitian!" I didn't to sound like a creep and say I met him once before and I have seen him in church the past 3 times I visited Paris, so I just told him I could just tell. His name is Ahking, and he seems very cool!

We had a lesson from a french girl, which I didn't understand. Then we played a game! We played the game where you write down the name of a celebrity and then you have to try to act out and explain who it was. It was a bit difficult when half the room was speaking French and the other half English. And it was hard when most of the French don't know who Justin Bieber is! It was still a lot of fun.

When we were finished I started to get really nervous to go home! Earlier in the day, Michelle went home to do homework. She said that when she got home our host mom was freaking out and asking where I was! Michelle said that our host mom told her that I broke the shower I was using! I honestly did not do anything out of the ordinary to the shower! One reason why I didn't want to go home was simply because I was tired, and I knew she would talk to me for hours about it. (She loves to hear herself talk.)

We didn't go home right after FHE though. There were about seven girls from our group at FHE. We all invited one guy named Charlie, and then that Tahitian boy, Ahking to get ice cream with us! We went to a new ice cream shop... which I don't remember the name of. That's okay though because I have had better ice cream in Paris. (Amorino's or Berthillon) We had a good time hanging out with them. Charlie was actually American, he was from California... and to be honest, he ended up being kinda creepy. Ally was having the time of her life talking with Ahking. I wonder if anything will happen there??

When I got home, I knew what was coming. My host mom sat me down and talked to me about the shower that I supposedly broke. I told her a million times... "I didn't do anything." I don't think she believes me, but I don't really care?? She is starting to get really annoying. She talks a lot, and in French, so I can't understand her. She doesn't talk with us either, She talks at us. She is one of those people who has an opinion about everything and her opinion is always right. So she has told us many times what we are doing wrong. Its actually very annoying. Is it bad that because of her, I am starting to get really annoyed hearing the french language? I can never understand what she is saying, I try super hard, maybe even too hard, Because once I go out on the town my brain feels like it is fried! My brain is already done trying to think in french by the time I actually need to thinking french.

Hey this blog is a nice way to vent. Hope you all don't mind listening to me complain sometimes. Time for bed.