To everyone who is reading this, I am very glad I can share bits of my life in Paris with you. I will probably use this blog to share pictures and little facts and impressions of singular places in Paris, but by way of introduction I have a lengthy post:
Already I can see that everything is different here. Last year I was mistaken when I imagined Paris to be similar to American cities. The major difference? It's old. There are buildings that are hundreds of years old and cobblestone streets...Regarding my American Studies-environmental concentration interest, I can already see with that it would be impossible for people all over the world to have the same cultural view of the environment and our natural resources. More to be said on this subject later.
I am speaking French all the time. After one week I am already much better at understanding people and speaking. At first everything (saying something, shopping for groceries, etc.) took at least twice as long as usual. Additionally, all our classes are in French. Orientation has been 1. French language, 2. art and architecture history classes, and 3. How-to-write-a-paper-in-a-French-way (rule #1: no personal opinions!)
My room is cool. It is tiny, like a room at Middlebury, but with a kitchen and a bathroom. The shower is the size of a person, but remarkably lovely nonetheless.
I love to buy yogurt in glass containers! There is also Tropicana orange juice in glass bottles! There are many of the same brands here (e.g. "Dannone") but I think the ingredients and the presentation is quite different. Peanut butter is not my favorite thing, but it might interest you (it does my classmates) that it's uncommon and also very expensive here.
Missing the U.S. a little bit. But being here is really something.
Bonjour,
