My first entry

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Bonjour tout le monde!

(hello everyone!)

I decided a blog is the way to go to communicate with everyone abroad. I hope that you will enjoy hearing about what is going on over here. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions if I don't cover them here.

I left on Friday afternoon from Denver and made my connection in Dallas. Everything went well and I didn't have any troubles except when I got to Paris and I tried to find my bags. It took me over an hour to find baggage claim but it all worked out in the end. After that I took a bus into Paris. I met the other people that are part of CCA (Central College Abroad), there are 16 of us mosty from the midwest, but there are a couple from the east coast. We met up in the lobby and walked a couple of blocks to dinner. We had crepes they were delicious. I had a crepe with cheese and mushrooms and for desert I had a crepe with chocolate. We all we able to talk and find out more about eachother. Everyone seems really cool and Im sure we will all have a lot of fun together in the next 5 months.

After dinner we decided to go out and check on Paris at night. We had fun but headed back early because we were so tired. I woke up early this moring and went down to breakfast at the hotel. We had chocolate croissants and coffee. After breakfast I got ready to take the train to Tours where I will be spending the next two weeks. The hotel rooms in Europe are so much smaller than in the US. The shower wasn't really a shower at all more like a bathtub with a hose hooked to the water with no shower curtain, so that was interesting.

We took the train around noon from le gare montparnesse (the montparnesse station). It was about an hour ride to tours. At the station the family that I will be staying with for the next two weeks picked me up. They are very nice. The woman is named Francoise, she is a nurse and doesn't speak any english which is a little difficult when there is a word I want to say but do not know. Her husband is named Jean-Maurice. He speaks English very well so he tries to help explain when I don't understand something in French. They do not speak English to me otherwise which is good for me because that is how I will learn even though it can be frustrating when I don't understand. They cooked me a delicious dinner of hadock (a fish) with a butter sauce, it was so delicious I can't even describe it. After dinner we had cheese for desert, which is typical in France. I tried a camembert cheese, it was good but it kind of freaked me out because it had little specs of mold like in bleu cheese, which I don't like but I will have to be adventurous while I'm here and try new stuff. Right now I am watching Schindler's List in French with my French Family.

So far it has been difficult to use my french because I am so distracted by everything else around me. People will talk to me in french and I will uncerstand it but I will het thrown off by a word that I don't know. It doesn't help that everyone talks so fast here. I am slowly but surely catching on.

I should head to bed soon since it is almost midnight here and I have to wake up early to go to class at the institute de touraine. That is where I will have intensive language classes for the next two weeks.

Bonsoir (Goodnight)

Katie

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Comments

[Darby]

WAHOO!!!
Katie! You are over there! You are in France, just livin the dream... Oh my dear I hope you live it up! Every moment, every smell, taste, experience. It is such a blessing that you get this opportunity. I hope you make the most of it! Love you much! Darbs