Paris je t'aime!

Hi everyone!

So the past few days have been la folie, as they say in France. My plane left Boston at 8:30 pm and I flew to Reykjavik, Iceland. Let me just tell you, Iceland is the weirdest country in the world. On the back of each chair, they had little screens that told facts about Iceland and they were bizarre. Like, half the population believes in elves. And even though there are only 300,000 people in ALL of Iceland (there are like twice that many people in Boston alone!), they somehow produce 10 rock bands a year! Also, the screen said that "every Icelander can trace his or her roots back to the nation's first settlers." Does that mean that there are no immigrants in Iceland? I didn't understand. Also, it has the largest number of master chess players per capita of any country in the world. Like, who are these people?  It all just made me think of this http://www.hulu.com/watch/56633/saturday-night-live-update-bjork

Whatever. My flight from Reykjavik to Paris got in at around noon and my host dad, Alain, met me at the aeroport. The first thing I noticed about him was that his cell phone ring was "Hey Ya" by Outkast and I so knew immediately that we would be great friends. Anywayyyyy, we took the train (two trains, actually) into Paris and when we stepped out of the train, we were standing in front of Notre Dame like it was no big deal. Amazing. We walked to their apartement, with my poor little host dad dragging mah HUMONGOUS suitcase (sry Alain...ily) and when I got upstairs, their two sons were there along with their adorable four-year-old granddaughter who literally popped out from under the table. You guys know I wanted a French baby to play with. Wish granted. Hopefully, we'll have conversations like this: http://vimeo.com/2113477?pg=embed&sec=2113477

We had lunch (which I thought was dinner cuz I was so intensely jetlagged I had zero idea what time it was) and they are all so nice. They totally made me feel like part of the fam. Then I played w/ the granddaughter, Maeva, for like, hours. We watched some Babar and some Tintin. Obvi.

H'anyway, then I took a mondo nap (hi Hannah) and when I woke up their son, Cyrille, who is around my age, was the only person in the house and we had the most awkward interaction ever. I obviously looked a mess cuz I had just woken up, plus I had no idea where anyone was and I was just like "um hi...who am I what am I doing here where's your Mom?" all in like, broken French. He obviously thought I was like a huge n00b, which was super embarassing. Whatever. I'm over it.

That night, I had dinner w/ my host-mama and she is amazing. We talked like, way into the night. I think I'm in love.

This morning I got up and took the Metro to my program. The first thing they did was make us take this placement test which was affreux. It was all like, conjugations and verb tenses, which I haven't done since high school, so pretty sure I bombed that shit...oh well. Then they gave us lots of complicated instructions which started to stress me out so I ignored them. After that we had a little meet and greet where I met some cool cats and talked to my old friend Alex from high school, who also happens to be on the program. C'était sympa.

After that, I walked home. All by mahself. It was exciting! I just like wandered around the city, taking photos and exploring. Paris is a photographer's paradise. Here are some of the better ones...

This right here is the Panthéon, where all the famous French ppl are buried, like Voltaire, Pangloss (jk Carolyn), Victor Hugo, Rousseau, etc.

But as beautiful as the city is during the day, it is magical at night. The way the lights shine on the cathedrals and the tiny, curving streets is enchanting. Here's summa dat:

Um, this is where I go to school.

 Notre-Dame. Nbd.

Église Saint-Séverin

Église Saint-Nicolas

So...ya. Paris is bomb.