in the swing of things...

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hi guys, everything is going really well. classes have started, and i have a great schedule. the seminar on the french education that was originally cancelled because the professor was unavailable is now being offered, and i'll be taking that course instead of attending a course at the university of paris, because this seminar includes trips to french schools in the suburbs to teach english. i personally feel that i will have a much better experience doing that than attending a course at the Sorbonne, and this education seminar will be much more condusive to my thesis proposal of muslim integration in france through the education system. i had a meeting with the director of my program yesterday to discuss all this, and she was very impressed with my interest in this subject and has offered to lend me plenty of books to look at. the way my schedule is set up right now, i will be taking the advanced french class, the education seminar, the muslim presence in europe class, a french film class, and a class on francophone culture. i'm getting 12 credits towards my major for study abroad, and the class on francophone culture should count towards my minor, and the muslim presence class could count as an elective course towards my major. this way, i'm truly making the most of my time here by getting credit that ultimately goes toward graduating and giving me more room in my senior year to take classes like marketing, etc. AND gathering research for my thesis. believe me, i really wanted to take a class at the sorbonne, but with the other classes in our program that we need to take, that leaves only a limited number of courses to take at the sorbonne, and while our program ends in may, the sorbonne classes end in mid-june. so that kind of messes up my travel time afterwards. this information was of course, not found in my program brochures, so i was pissed to find it out now, but c'est la vie. i'm in paris and i plan on using my time here wisely. and i am so excited for the education seminar. i believe it will be much better to say on a resume "i taught english to french kids for a semester" rather than "i took a class at the sorbonne."

kevin's classes are conveniently right across the street from me, so we can take the metro together in the mornings and meet for lunch occasionally. i plan on staying with the host family during the middle of the week and with kevin on the weekends. poor kevin is one of only about 4 or 5 people in his program that have never ever spoken french. i'm going to help him as much as possible, and last night while going over the alphabet, numbers, and simple conugations, i realized how much 8 years of french has taught me. it's wonderful to receive so much praise for my french speaking from my french professors, but i've even been complimented by french airport employees when we were dealing with the lost ski bag, the people selling us bread and cheese at the open markets, etc. kevin is going to have to practice a lot. it helps that he's studied other romance languages like spanish and italian, but it's also a bit difficult because french is a bit more complicated than spanish or italian. but little things like the french "r" have plagued me for so long: i've finally mastered it, but it's going to take kevin some time to get the hang of it. back to me, i've definitely plunged into speaking french constantly, and it's funny to switch back and forth now. i find myself writing emails and trying to structure my sentenves in the french way. it's a good sign, but i hope my friends are able to understand what i'm saying.

living in the tiny studio apartment with kevin has been pretty fun so far. we've cooked dinner 2 times and each night after dinner we've gone walking around the champs-elysees area, and found lot's of hole-in-the-wall restaurants that aren't too expensive. we went to the petit palais the other day to see the exhibition on display, the sculptures and busts of jean carries. very beautiful work in wax and bronze. and i should be getting my student ID soon, which will say that i am an art history student and should get me into all the french museums for free. tres bien! paris is just beautiful--that's possibly an understatement, but i can't help but say it over and over again. it's amazing to just look at the buildings and notice how beautiful all the architecture is. i'm really excited for the weather to turn better in april, because that means picnics in all the parks and gardens. the nighttime walks have been fantastic--not only finding tiny and affordable restaurants, but also getting in some exercise before going to bed.

all i need to do now is ski...and unfortunately i have class from 10-4pm straight on fridays, whereas only one class on wednesday and thursday. if only this could be rearranged. i'm just going to have to skip once in a while.

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