First Week of French!

Current Location: Paris, France

Okay, so it's only been three days technically, but I have officially begun my French Classes! It has been a PACKED few days - I actually haven't had time to sit down and actually write until now!

So on Tuesday, classes started! It is taught completely in French - as in instructions and homework and everything is only spoken in French. It is a really good way to learn I think - I feel like my understanding is very good in both reading and listening to french after only 3 days, and it will continue to improve. However, my speaking and writing skills are still a bit problematic. They should only improve with time though! After our first day of class, a group of the girls went exploring - and shopping! I got a super cute dress at a boutique store and then we headed to Saint Michel to go to bookstores. I had to buy 2 books that are like workbooks for the class. However, unlike in the states, these 2 books cost about 20 euros. Totally affordable. We browsed for a while, and then headed back to the dorm. They had screwed up our tuesday afternoon class, so the program bought us all pizza and had a french chatting session. Problem though - I only know about 7 phrases, like I am american, and I speak english! Some people chatted in english so it was alright. We got some wine that night and chilled in the lounge going through Paris books and making lists of what we want to do this month :)

Wednesday we had class in the morning as usual. For lunch Wednesday, I tried the cafeteria for the first time by our dorm. It was surprisingly good considering it was 3 euros of a HUGE meal! Will def go there some to save money! After that, we headed to the musee du vin, or the museum of wine! We got to go around the museum and then had a wine tasting afterwards. It was a lot of fun, though there were some creepy statues in there! After that we headed to try to go to a museum of fashion but sadly, it was closed for renovations. Booo. So Myself and Julianna headed to Gallery Lafayette, which is this AMAZING department store. Seriously, I was in love. Can't afford all the Miu Miu and Prada shoes sadly :( That night we had another mini wine party

Today, once again was class. We are going at a pretty good speed I think, and as we get more comfortable, I think we will speed up. After class, we went exploring, and found a fantastic shopping street right by campus. Didn't buy anything today - I was a good girl!we walked a lot, and then headed to this skyscraper in Paris - its 56 stories tall and you can go up to a terrace and see Paris. We went up and saw everything, which was really nice. Eiffel Tower looks pretty from high up! Then we had an excursion which was a 2 hour walking tour of the Latin Corner. It had a lot of history and was extremely interesting, and I saw so many things. Needless to say, after about 4 hours straight of walking, I was quite exhausted and have spent a nice relaxing night in my room. Watched the Girl With the Dragon Tattoo movie, which I liked. Book was better, but the movie was still good.

Tomorrow I have class in the morning and then I leave for Nice with Courtney Hardenbrook! We will be meeting there are staying for 3 nights, so I am very excited. I am in love with Paris, but excited to see the south of France and be out of the busy atmosphere for a few days. Au Revoir!