My First Full Day in Paris

Wow. I feel like that's all I can really say. It seems impossible to me that I have traveled over an ocean just a couple of days ago. Paris is more than I remember. Maybe that's because I didn't really experience Paris when I arrived as a fresh high school graduate two years ago.

Today, I live on the rue St Michel in a boarding house of sorts for the students of Sorbonne. It's actually just a block or two over, which makes me feel very studious. La rue St Michel is a very busy street with lots of shops and sandwicheries on it. Abbey, my fellow Taylorite and my roommate, and I ate both of our meals today at a Kabob place- first sandwiches for lunch, then crêpes for dinner, all under 7 euros total. Talk about a good deal. Just to put things into perspective, they (BGSU) allotted about 20 euros per day for meals. My mother would be so proud :)

We took the oral proficiency test today and I was disappointed to be placed at intermediate, below some others in the group, but I realized that it was probably for the better and I should just take that piece of humble pie and savor it. I feel as if God is teaching me the art of true humility by thrusting me into the foreign culture where people automatically switch to English when they hear me speak and I cannot rely on my own resources. Thanks, God. Thanks. I'm really overwhelmed by the idea of these classes and writing reports and having to explore Paris on my own, but I suppose things will work out fine. I'm so nervous and I'm trying really hard to give up my anxieties, but it's not working as well as I had hoped.

I have been blessed to run into some great people, though. Abbey and Kevin Mattice are my two fellow Taylorites and they're awesome. We've gone exploring a little bit... Lunch for instance was sandwiches that we ate in the Luxemborg Garden, which happens to be basically right across the street from our residence... And we plan on going to many other places because Kevin has a great little tour guide book that his grandmother bought for him.

I'm sitting in the library in the Foyer (my place of residence) and I can see the Eiffel Tower outside of the window. It is beautiful. On the seventh floor, there is a terrace that beholds a view of all of Paris. It's absolutely gorgeous. We all went up there, via the stairs, last night to see the view of the Eiffel Tower and waited around for it to start sparkling at 9pm. C'était magnifique! I went up there this morning to journal and read my Bible... what a great way to start the day! I hope to spend a lot more time up there!

Tonight, we are walking through Paris, maybe we'll take the boat tour... I don't remember. Tomorrow, we hit the Louvre for the day and then do more touring after that. I have a lot of things I need to do and I'm panicking a little on the time management concept, but again, everything will be great. I'm super excited for the day trip we're taking to Chatres next week! I love that cathedrale so much and it exites me to go there again for a 2 hour tour! :)

Well, it's 7:32pm our time, and I have other things to do... Except I should mention that I had the best ice cream in the world today... It legitimately competes with the best Italian gelato places in Italy... I know, I know. :)