One week down, one (ish) to go!

After spending 20 hours in the classroom this week, I've learned French, made friends with lots of people, and decided that 4 hours of class each day is not healthy for anyone. Even though we have a 20 minute break, I feel so exhausted and hungry after that I trudge back to my room and collapse on my bed. The past two days, I have taken at least 1.5 hour naps... And people say that you shouldn't sleep in Paris... I don't know how they do it... I mean, I prefer to remember what I see. Just a thought...

After class today, we had to hightail it to the Boulevard du Palais to meet Monsieur Kevin who led us through the Sainte Chapelle, the former resting place of the Crown of Thorns. This place is literally right next to Notre Dame, but we (Abbey, Emily W., and I) could barely find it. I was getting frustrated because we were running late and we all have trouble reading maps... So, we finally found the group 10 minutes late... Thankfully it wasn't a big deal because we spent the next 45 minutes in line. I felt a little silly for being so stressed... and for pulling the typical "Bridget" of being peeved for arriving late... The building was beautiful though!

After visiting there, Kevin, Abbey and I took the Metro to the oldest Mosque in Paris. I was already out of my comfort system by going to a part of the city I had never seen before, then to walk down the street toward a mosque... a park surrounded by police... approach a huge mosque and enter into it... It was beautiful and there were a few other tourists in the entryway, but I felt awkward peering into their central garden. Kevin spent the majority of his summer with Middle-Easterners, so he was right at home and soaking it in. He suggested that we could go in even further, but I said that I wasn't quite comfortable with that, so we left. I felt kinda bad, but my "broading-my-horizons" meter had been maxed out for the hour. Looking back on it, I loved it. I feel like the next time I visit a mosque, I should know more about the Muslims and be able to appreciate and evaluate what and who are there.

It's finally Friday, though. Yesterday seemed to last forever! Last night even seemed like an eternity. After visiting the Eiffel Tower with the lights sparkling, I was in bed by a decent time, but I failed in sleeping... Well, sleeping as in reaching a REM cycle... Hopefully tonight will prove to be more successful.

Tomorrow, Abbey and I are going to visit the Musée de Renods (or something like that...) and the "Invalides" (the building where all the injured soldiers were put during the wars). All of that is in the morning... then I get to skype :) Then, we're going to a chateau about one hour away called... V-something... I forget. Not Versailles, cuz that's on Sunday... I dunno. Anyways, this weekend is going to be really busy, so I probably won't go out tonight. And I'm sooo ok with that :)

Also, we had croissants for breakfast this morning. Normally we just have pieces of baguettes and juice/coffee/tea... but today, we were able to have croissants. So, my first croissant on this trip was "free"... :) That made me happy. Now, I have to do homework... It's not challenging, but it's good practice. I'm thinking about asking the teacher on Monday if I can move up, even though there's only a week left of class... We'll see what happens, eh?