Quick, I need to get rid of these pounds!

Number of currencies in my purse right now: 3
Amount of money I plan to be spending this week: As close to zero as possible
Time it took me to be in a whole other country and culture: 1 hour
Paris rocks in terms of getting around to other places, it's so well connected.

Now I am back from Bath and nearly pound-less or as close to it as possible. I'm pretty sure it's just Euros from here on out. As per usual, I feel like a list is a good way to sum up what I did this weekend: 1 rugby game, 1 pint of Guinness, one camera in said pint of Guinness, 3 people seen in Jane-Austen-era clothing while visiting the Roman Baths, thanks to the Jane Austen center's festival that weekend. (Jane wrote Northanger Abbey in Bath and lived there for a little while.)
several drunk brits in the club below the flat I was staying in.. and one plate of greasy fish and chips! So, obviously as you can see, I had a great time.

Still think it's odd that I'm in classes. I don't know if I'll really get use to it, it doesn't feel like I will.

I have finished planning my mini excursions for the semester! They include the following:
One weekend in Milan
More than a weekend in Brussells Bruge and Luxembourg
One weekend in Amsterdam

Can't wait!

First week of class down and I am now off to visit Meggie in Bath! For some reason I feel like I'm not going to get there, I don't know why, it's weird. It's like I don't believe that I'm actually going to England this weekend. Maybe I have too many other things on my mind or something. Like wondering if I can manage classes in French as well as I manage classes in English... We'll see.

When will I stop worrying? I'm looking forward to it. Not worrying. Just another thing I don't believe will actually happen.

And now, I am sick

Classes started on Monday. It finally feels like I'm studying abroad now. Before I was just hanging around not doing much of anything. Now I'm back to homework. School is a bit odd in France because teachers don't tell you exactly what is expected of you or exactly what your homework is, there are just texts you should read, and then I guess they expect you to just know everything. I don't know. Hopefully I'll figure it out. I guess now I won't have to try to find things to occupy my time since I'll be reading all these texts professors mildly hint I should be reading.

I felt really sick on Monday, thankfully I have a bunch of medicine from the states I can take to try to knock the sickness out of me.

Odd thing about French stuff I learned this week: Pharmacies don't sell tissues. Apparently when they're sick their nose doesn't run, it's just us Americans. Luckily I know where a grocery store with tissues is and it's not far from my school! It's the little triumphs that are truly exciting.

Lunch on La Tour Eiffel, oh la la!

That's right, today I had lunch with all the IES students on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, It's funny, from far away it seems silly to think there are restaurants and bathrooms and things in the Eiffel Tower, because the structure doesn't look very solid, like there are places for people to sit and eat. And how does the water and pipes and everything drain from the structure? I just don't get it. Those French architects are very sneaky.

After that I thought it would be a really good idea to scale the steep streets in Montmartre where Le Sacre Coeur is, a beautiful church on top of this very high hill, after only sleeping last night for three hours and being hung over. I survived.

Since I can't watch French tv for increments longer than 30 min and I don't have homework because classes begin Monday, and I can't download tv off of iTunes because "My C drive is too full" which is a load of bull crap, I read. I went to an English book store and bought The Hobbit. It's a great book to read on the metro because every morning and afternoon I escape the hum drum normality of the metro and get kidnapped by goblins, party with the elves and get bailed out of tight situations by Gandolf the Great, who is probably one of my favorite science fiction characters ever.

It feels very Never Ending Story, you know escaping the mediocrity of life and falling into fantasy adventures. Except no one beats me up here, unless maybe if I get mugged and I have a feeling when I'm done reading the book I wont have a large mystical animal who I befriend during my journeys to take me on a scenic ride flying over Paris.

It's just a hunch. At least I can dream.

Why does it say I took out 40% more than what I took out of my account? Stupid exchange rate!

Just realized how much money I am spending here and realized I need to not like spending money as much as I do. This exchange rate sucks, and I doubt it will get better with America's fantastic economy. Just ate dinner with my host family, we had ratatouille! It was great, until the son jumped up from the table and ran to the bathroom, after which I expected to hear horrific purging sounds, but I don't know what he was doing and then he just came back to the table and muttered something I couldn't understand in French. Who knows what's up with that. I actually have some homework to do for this French class we've started taking at IES. The rest of our classes don't start until Monday.

I went to this book shop that sells used books in English, I bought the Hobbit. Since I can't watch TV and I have trouble downloading from iTunes I need something to keep me busy, and I can read it on the train.

Tomorrow, I'm packing my lunch. I'll just buy a half baguette to eat my tomato and brie cheese with and I'll refill my water bottle...see? I can be resourceful!

We'll see how long this lasts.