Paris et Rosalie: First Post

Well I finally started a blog. This is going to profile my time in Paris so I can remember what I did. I've been here for ten days now, and it feels like so much longer when I consider how much I have done. I only have a handful of pictures so far, but hopefully more to come.

Day 1:

The first day I arrived at about 11:30 Paris time. Tired, but

not feeling exhausted. We went to the hotel, whi

ch was pretty ghetto. The room had a bunk bed. The bottom was a double and the top a twin. Then there were two doors that led to what looked like closets. But one was just a toilet, and the other was the shower. No locks were on these doors, mind you. And then all the way on the other side of the room was the sink and mirror. And when I say all the way, I really mean about ten steps. The room was super tiny.

(Yes that is me in the picture, looking awesome)

Then we went on a Seine river tour. The boat was a double decker and most of the lower deck was covered. It was freezing so the majority of us stayed inside and with the warmth from the heaters, I fell asleep. Jet lag was starting to hit and with the sway of the boat there was no hope. After that we went and found dinner and headed back to the hotel.

Right by the métro stop where we went to the river tour was this cool carousel. It has two levels on it. And right next to it is an ice skating rink.

Day 2:

This was the day that I met my host family! It was a very interesting first little bit to say the least. We all met in the lobby of our hotel and had taxis come pick us up. I decided that since it was going to be a long taxi ride I would speak French with the cab driver, to get warmed up. I was doing really well if I do say so myself, and was able to communicate without too much hesitation. The taxi driver dropped us off on the sidewalk and me and Ariel and all of our luggage were standing outside the door anxious of what was going to happen. We rang the doorbell and quickly heard someone coming to the door. The first thing I said was "bonjour...uh...nous sommes les étudiantes de BYU.." And the woman said "Ariel, Rosalie, come in come in, allez-y." She showed us our rooms, which are tiny by the way, and gave us the password to the internet and showed us the nearest Mètro station and then let us be.

We had dinner with the family, which consists of the parents, two kids at home (a son and daughter, both in their twenties), and an intern from Lyon, France. We only had dinner with the mom and the kids, including the intern. We had squash soup and part of a baguette for our first course. Then we had salad. I learned that saying "je vais fatiguée la salade" literally means "I will tire the salad" but is used to describe mixing the salad and salad dressing together. After the salad we had some beef and potatoes. It was the reddest beef I've ever been served. it made me a little nervous, but it was good. After that we had little tangerines for dessert. It was a good first meal. Especially after hearing the crazy things that my "camarades" had to eat.

Day 3:

Thursday was day three, and Ariel and I decided to go into the city and explore. We went to the Notre Dame. It was cool, but I had already seen it, so I wasn't super excited. But as we kept walking we found a park behind the church, and I found that the back of the church is really re

ally pretty.

We also went to the Arc de Triomphe.

I forgot how big it really is! I had never been up close to it, so we went through the underground tunnel and went right next to it. It is a really cool structure.