The First Bit...

So I have finally officially started my abroad blog, or abrlog, if you will (maybe that's what I should have named it...?).  I am sitting here in my cute little room in the 17th arrondissement in Paris  posting to the world wide web.  Hmm...  Where to begin?  I suppose I do a little recap of orientation, and then move into this week.

So I arrived in Paris on January 8th and it has been not stop busy-ness since then!  From the moment we arrived at the airpot, AUP (American University of Paris) has had us attending workshops, figuring out housing, phones, and doing some touristy things as well.  All of last week we had workshops about the school, or the city, most of which were optional but highly recommended.  Some of them were very helpful, and some not so much.  I learned a ton of handy info in one called Paris Inside and Out that AUP students lead, including what grocery stores are the best and how to get a monthly metro pass.

While we were attending said workshops, we were staying in the FIAP, which is an establishment that falls somewhere between a hostel and a hotel.  We were there until we found our permanent housing, which luckily I found pretty early on in the process--AUP helps you find the kind of housing you want.  My room is very cute, and a little sparsely decorated at the moment, but this will soon not be the case.  The 17th arrondissement is very nice residential area with a park.  I live in a house, well a floor of an apartment building with two other girls from my school, and Hugh, our landlord.  It is a homestay in the sense that we are living in Hugh's home, but not in the sense that we eat or do things together.  Hugh is very cool though and I like him a lot, although he speaks perfect English, which is a bummer for improving my French skills.  The two other girls who live in the house with me are Cola and Hannah, and they are great as well.  We have a kitchen to ourselves that is pretty big!  I just went to the grocery store this evening to stock it with some fruits and vegetables because I feel like I've been eating a solid diet of bread and cheese since I got here (yes, this is your fault croissants, sandwiches, pizzas, and all the other pastries I don't even know the names of!).  Also, apparently you are supposed to weigh fruits and veggies before you bring them up to buy them which I didn't realize, and I had to leave all my other food half checked out while I went back to weigh them, and then squeeze back through the line of people behind me to pay for everything.  I felt un peu dumb, but hey, now I know!

I'm going to end here for today as I'm pretty exhausted, but more soon!

Je t'embrasse,

Teal