Classes begin...partially

Hey all,

So I’ve fallen a bit behind in my blogging, partially due to the fact that the computer with internet in my room is not working, and no longer has internet access, sigh. My host mom doesn’t know anything about the computer, or even how it got the internet; apparently her daughter’s boyfriend set it all up in the first place, and he’s in Greece with her daughter on vacation, sigh again. But oh well, hopefully he’ll be able to fix it whenever they get back, and until then I’ve just been having to get a hot chocolate at McDonald’s (or “Mac-Doe” as they say here) and use the free wi-fi. Other than that though, all is going well. Sunday, on Patrimonie, I wound up going to the Hotel de Ville, a gorgeous building normally closed for the public, used for important government meetings/mayor stuff. It’s basically this huge old building filled with wonderful paintings and sculptures, very cool. On Monday, I had to sign up in the morning for my cinema class, which ended up being horrible. I woke up at 745 to get ready so I could meet one of my friends at the metro by the school at 930, that way we could find the school together. However, it ended up taking me forever as it took me forever to find the metro stop on my map, and then my Carte Navigo wouldn’t work because my metro station’s Navigo recharger thing was broken. So, I had to go to the next station, and then wait in line as the machine wont accept American credit cards. Then, already late in a rush, I hopped on the metro, about 30 minutes from my school, and just as I was reaching the stop for my school I realised I had forgotten my Student Card, which was absolutely necessary to enroll in class. I ended up having to go all the way home, where I realized the card I needed was actually at the Sweet Briar office. I then raced over there, got the card, and headed back to find the University, which I eventually did, over an hour late. Luckily, Madame Hervier of Sweet Briar, who is in charge of making sure we get enrolled in our classes, was there waiting for me, and she helped me get all signed up without a problem, yay. So after all that, I did end up getting into the course I wanted, which looks at intercultural approaches in cinema-should be really interesting. Not long after I headed back to Sweet Briar for my course entitled “Atelier d’ecriture”, which basically focuses on improving our french. The class is actually really good, Alex is in it with me as well, and our teacher is really funny and interesting. In just two classes I’ve already learned a lot I didn’t know about the french language, and she manages to keep it light and fun.
On Tuesday, I didn’t have anything I had to do, so I walked around a lot and got some stuff at Monoprix (the french version of a walmart, a bit classier), that I needed for class and such. Later that day Kristin and I met up and went to the Pantheon, which was really cool. We went down to the crypt, housing Victor Hugo, Rousseau, and others. The rest of the Pantheon was covered in nice sculptures and religious paintings, very interesting.
On Wednesday, I had to go back to the University to sign up for my literature class, although I was again late as I misread the time I had to be there. But it was okay, I got there just in time and enrolled in my class entitled “La Bete Humaine”, roughly “The Human Beast”. Afterwards, I walked around a bit to see what was by my school, and stumbled upon this huge garden next to the natural history museum. I walked through, and then walked randomly for a bit to explore and get some exercise. Then, Kristin and I met up to figure out travel stuff. We booked flights for two weekends, one going to Pisa/Florence through Ryanair, which has nice cheap deals on flights, and also for Prague, where we are going for a weekend to stay with Heather and explore the city (yay!). I then had my History of Art class through Sweet Briar, where we have an hour and a half of regular class, in then later in the day we go to the Louvre for an hour and a half. It was really interesting, I think I’m really going to enjoy the class, and of course being able to then go to the Louvre and see original paintings is amazing, so cool. Today, I had my class Atelier d’ecriture again, and then went on a quest to find the books I’m going to need for my litterature class. My search ended up being a long walk through some really cool parts of Paris, until I finally found a big bookstore that had all the books I needed-success! Oh, also, I’ve been a bit sick for the last few days, with a really sore throat and runny nose and such, but I’m feeling better day…Argh, I so don’t want to be sick in Paris! But tomorrow the weekend starts, as I don’t have any classes on Friday, so back to exploring Paris and such, yessss.